Mubarak Mystery: In Egypt, In Germany, In Coma?

A screenshot from the last time Hosni Mubarak was seen in public late last week.

/ CBS

Many aspects of Hosni Mubarak's life - from his health to his wealth to his daily whereabouts - were closely guarded secrets during his nearly 30 years as president of Egypt. After being ousted from office last week, not much has changed.

The Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Sunday that Mubarak had slipped into a coma. The paper repeated rumors that the 83-year-old former head-of-state also fainted twice during his infamous I-won't-quit speech last week, delivered just a day before he did indeed step down.

Another report, from an Israeli French-language magazine named JSS News, claims that Mubarak was on death's door in a hospital in Baden, Germany. Mubarak has long been rumored to be suffering from cancer, and JSS News claims that he is already in the terminal phase of his cancer suffering.

Despite these rumors, an Obama administration official told a reporter at the Washington Post Sunday they believed he was actually in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has long had a private residence. Egypt's prime minister also supported this report.

Complete Coverage: Anger in the Arab World

Still, several locals in Sharm el-Sheikh also told the Post they believe that, while he did immediately flee for the resort town after resigning, he quickly boarded a plane for Abu Dhabi and then continued on to Germany.

For their part, the Germans call this theory nonsense.

"He's not in Germany, and he's not on his way," Steffen Seibert, the chief spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Sunday night, according to the Post. "This is a new round of rumors. There is absolutely no information that we have about this, and it would require him a visa to come here. So presumably we would know."

If Mubarak is indeed gravely ill, there is still uncertainty about how he would pay for medical treatment.

Widely rumored to have accumulated billions of dollars in personal wealth during his presidency, Switzerland announced after Mubarak stepped down that it had frozen his and his family's assets in their banks.

Updated Monday, 8:28 a.m.:

Egypt's ambassador to the U.S. said Monday that Mubarak may be in "bad health" on NBC's "Today." He did not offer more specific information.

[presjfk]

"If Mubarak is indeed gravely ill, there is still uncertainty about how he would pay for medical treatment."

This is a bad joke. No doubt Mubarak has stashed hundreds of millions in safe havens all around the world. The least of his problems are going to be money let alone hospital bills.

[myopinionpal]

He might be hanging out with LeBron James in South Beach FL.

[mask2697]

Chances are he had enough money to bribe a Fake ID and get a house in some corrupt country but either way, STOP TALKING ABOUT MUMBARAK, he stepped down and hes not coming back

[Zann-Zel]

Maybe he's hiding out with OsamaBinLaden!

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
quelque soit l'endroit O? se trouve hosni moubarak, il n'est pas a envier.
Seul, rejet?, en plus de sa conscience qui doit le torturer.
avoir le pouvoir absolu pendant des ann?es, accumuler une fortune colossale et finir seul, malade, fatigu?,
c'est malheureux!
..............................

whatever the location of Hosni Mubarak, it is not to envy.
Alone, rejected, in addition to his conscience, which must torture him.
have absolute power for years, accumulating a huge fortune and end up alone, sick, tired,
Will it have time to spend even just a small part of his fortune ?????
Oooops!!
that's unfortunate!
" au revoir"

[larlinc]

Actually I thought the French were getting a villa ready for him near Nice or Cannes. Isn't that dictators row? Maybe he will take over Duvalier's place now that he is back in Haiti. Isn't it "wonderful" how the French truly believe in "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity?"

[SoCal_Gridlock]

Oh brother. This has completely deteriorated into a soap opera.

[imthaid]

Try Dubai. That's where all crooked leaders go.

[Jaylah54]

Or Texas.

[Jaylah54]

If I was Mubarak, I'd be encouraging as many rumors as I could, too.

[tmittelstaed]

Mubarak's assets wern't frozen until after he stepped down and you better believe that he had people converting as much of the money in his bank accounts as possible into gold and gemstones that he could carry with him.

Nor is he sick, that is obviously a rumor to get the crowd to leave him alone.

Nor is he in any of his usual haunts like his seaside resort.

What has happened is that the US was doing shuttle diplomacy for the last week working out the terms of the deal for some Arab country to take him - probably U.A.E. - and large amounts of money (from those swiss accounts) changed hands and a place in a gated community was procured. All of that was completed and setup in exchange for the resignation, and it's likely the resignation was taped and he was out of the country when it was played. He is probably sitting there watching the news reports of this with one of his favorite Egyptian beers in hand in his hideout, and in 3-4 months when everyone has forgotten him he will emerge.