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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Five and counting
By Gamal Essam El-DinThe People's Assembly came in for more trouble this week after Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahid ordered Omar Abu Steit, a deputy for the Upper Egypt governorate of Sohag, to be kept in custody on charges related to hooliganism. Abdel-Wahid also ordered Mohamed Sadeq Okasha, a deputy for Giza Governorate, to be taken into custody for suspected financial wrong-doing. The prosecutor-general's latest decisions, alongside with the previous arrest of three MPs implicated in what is called the case of the "loan deputies", has raised to five the number of parliamentarians spending time behind bars, a situation unprecedented in Egypt's 133-year-old parliamentary history. Moreover, Ibrahim Aglan, the fourth "loan deputy," went out of circulation three weeks ago to dodge interrogation by the tough investigating magistrate Mohsen Sobhi.
No sooner had Abu Steit been stripped of his parliamentary immunity at a stormy meeting last week of the Legislative and Constitutional Committee than Abdel-Wahid sent him to jail for four days. On Sunday, Abdel-Wahid ordered that Abu Steit be kept in custody for 30 additional days.
Abu Steit, a veteran member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), lashed out last week at the prosecutor's office, charging that it was biased against MPs and acted to defame them.
Following six hours of interrogation on Sunday, the South Giza Prosecutor levelled six charges against Abu Steit, ranging from the recruitment of seven thugs to evict the residents of an apartment building to the use of an unlicensed automatic rifle. The prosecutor turned down a request by Abu Steit for his release on the grounds of poor health. The 66-year-old Abu Steit, who was elected to parliament for the first time in 1970, is a previous chairman of the People's Assembly's Defence and National Security Committee. Throughout his parliamentary career, Abu Steit lost his immunity no less than three times.
As for Okasha, a tourism entrepreneur and NDP deputy, Abdel-Wahid ordered on Saturday that he be remanded in custody for four days. Okasha's detention is expected to be renewed for 15 additional days. In a first, Okasha was stripped of his parliamentary immunity thrice in two weeks. Okasha was charged with issuing three worthless cheques worth LE1 million, LE400,000 and LE650,000. He was also charged with submitting false documents to prove that he is the proprietor of a LE35 million tourist hotel in Giza Governorate.
Meanwhile, dramatic developments in the "loan deputies" case continued for the sixth consecutive week. Investigating magistrate Mohsen Sobhi is expected by the end of this week to conclude his investigation by interrogating the remaining four suspects. Most prominent among them is Fouad Hagras, a former MP and the current chairman of a fertilisers firm. Hagras is accused of receiving LE40 million from the Daqahliya Bank without adequate collateral.
All in all, Sobhi ordered this week that three suspects, including ex-minister Tawfik Abdu Ismail, be kept in custody, for the third time, for 15 additional days. For the second time, Sobhi also renewed the jailing of nine defendants, including MPs Khaled Mahmoud and Mahmoud Azzam, for 15 days. Sobhi decided that three other suspects be taken into custody for 15 days. These are real estate businessmen Yasser Seoudi, Yehia Moharram and Mokhtar Ashri. Seoudi, chairman of the EGYAD Company for Real Estate Investments, was charged with illegal speculation and receiving hefty loans from the Commercial Bank of Daqahliya. Moharram, manager of the El-Rashid Construction Company, was accused of illegally receiving LE40 million from El-Daqahliya and El-Nil banks. Ashri was also accused of receiving LE40 million from El-Daqahliya Bank without adequate collateral. Sobhi also issued release orders -- on and without bail -- for nine suspects. Three others, Aleyya El-Ayyouti, Hossam El-Manawi and Ibrahim Aglan, have gone out of circulation. One suspect, Mohamed Hussein Saleh, manager of the National Group of Tourism Investments, died last year.
Following the conclusion of the investigation, legal sources explained, Sobhi will have two options: he may either send the case back to the first circuit of the Supreme State Security Court or refer it to another circuit of the same court. The first choice means that the charges against the suspects will be dropped and the case will be closed. The second will mean that the 32 defendants will stand trial on three charges: the misappropriation of public funds, facilitating the illegal acquisition of public funds and profiteering.
The case and the jailing of two additional MPs continued for the second week running, triggering a flood of comments from People's Assembly members. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Mohamed Moussa, chairman of the Legislative and Constitutional Committee, put the blame on the press for what he described as shedding unreasonable and excessive light on parliamentary immunity. "We have to take into consideration the fact that despite all that was written on the loan deputies and other corruption cases, no final court rulings have yet been handed down against deputies," Moussa said. He added that requests for dropping parliamentary immunity totalled 18 in the last session (1998/99) compared to 11 in the 1997/98 session. "This is a small number in view of the fact that the total number of MPs is 454," said Moussa. He also said the current summer recess was the scene of a fierce campaign against the ruling NDP. "As the NDP holds the majority in the Assembly (433 seats), and because the next parliamentary elections are approaching, these malicious anti-NDP campaigns should be expected," Moussa said.
Several writers on parliamentary affairs agreed that these cases of alleged corruption in the People's Assembly underlined the need for political reform. Some suggested that parliament be dissolved and a more transparent electoral system be introduced. They also urged the ruling NDP to purge itself of "the corrupt elements in its ranks".
Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour, at a meeting with Alexandria University students on Sunday, said the incumbent Assembly had rendered a great service to political action. According to Sorour, immunity-dropping requests approved by the Assembly in 1998/99 accounted for 3.9 per cent of members, compared to 3.3 per cent in 1997/98. "In the years between 1938 and 1948, this percentage had soared to 14 as 35 deputies -- out of a total of 264 -- were stripped of their immunity, while only 18 deputies lost their immunity in the incumbent 454-member parliament," Sorour said. He dismissed speculation that parliament might be dissolved. "The incumbent parliament, in passing many political and economic reform laws, has played an unprecedented role in ensuring stability and serving the people's interests," Sorour said.
Governor thrashes ruling party
