Egypt official ducks Interpol warrant at London lecture
Egypt’s former and convicted finance minister, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, ducked out of university lecture in London after students spotted him in the audience. Interpol has issued a warrant for the former official for fraud.
Students attending a lecture at the London School of Economics (LSE) recognized Egypt's pre-revolution finance minister, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, in the audience. Their calls for him to be arrested under an international police warrant prompted security to whisk him out of the building.
Boutros-Ghali, a relative of the UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was convicted by a Cairo court last summer for profiteering, fraud and abusing state and private assets, the Guardian reports.
Following Egypt's popular uprising last year, a number of former regime officials, including the president, have been put on trial for offenses like corruption and murder.
Interpol, the international policing organization based in France, issued a "red notice" for the finance minister. A red notice is likened to an arrest warrant, but actual apprehension of the subject is left up to sovereign states.
The Guardian says Egypt itself must issue an arrest warrant before the UK government can act. Many students were reportedly upset, however, that he was notified by university security to escape.
Watch the amateur video of Boutros-Ghali leaving the LSE lecture hall here.
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