If Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak does leave the post he's held for 30 years, he won't be retiring in poverty. Over his long career as a government and military official, Mubarak may have racked up a fortune of up to $70 billion, the Guardian reports:

"Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in upmarket homes and hotels."

According to Middle East experts, $40 to $70 billion is a fairly standard net worth for rulers in the region, as many autocrats stash away funds in order to keep themselves well-heeled in the event of a government transition.

"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth," Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, told ABC news. "There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain."

Reports say that the Mubaraks own a number properties around the world, including homes in Manhattan and Beverly Hills. The perception among Egyptians that Mubarak's administration was funneling cash away from public funds may have fed the protests, according to a Wikileaks cable released in 2006, the Australian reports.

"In the current disturbances in Cairo, rioters set fire three times to a building owned by a steel tycoon and close confidant of Mr Mubarak's son, Gamal, who is often depicted at the centre of the system of crony capitalism that has permitted an elite class to thrive while most Egyptians live on less than $US2 a day."

Canadian news service CBC says the amount of the fortune is much lower, near $35 or $40 billion, but still enough to send Egyptians to the streets shouting things like "stealing," "thieves," and calling him a "Pharaoh." The source of the funds, the CBC says, "according to several Mideast experts, flows from the sons being granted free shares in any new enterprise opening in Egypt."

The revelation may damage the West's call for a "gradual transition," as the United States may be loath to back a corrupt ruler, even if he does provide stability.