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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Corruption stigma haunts NDP
By Gamal Essam El-DinMaximum penalties meted out last week by the Supreme State Security Court against 15 businessmen and 16 bankers, including four members of parliament, have triggered shock waves in economic and political circles. In addition to anticipated short-term negative effects on the banking system, "the loan deputies case" is also expected to have dramatic political results in the long run.
As agreed by many observers, major changes are expected in the ranks of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in advance of parliamentary elections next November. The fact that four NDP deputies were among the 31 people sentenced to jail terms, ranging up to 15 years with hard labour, has not only dented the credibility of the ruling party, but also sent cynicism soaring about the parliamentary system.
Before the last parliamentary elections were held in November 1995, observers recall, the NDP was also dealt an equally serious blow. Three of its deputies were implicated in what was at the time dubbed "the case of the drug deputies." To contain the case's disastrous effects, NDP leaders affirmed then that the party's candidates would undergo extensive background checks to ensure that members of the new parliament were "completely clean and highly dedicated to parliamentary performance." Today, these assurances ring hollow with five NDP deputies behind bars after the expiry of the mandate of the 1995/2000 parliament.
Following last week's court verdicts against the "loan deputies", leading NDP officials once more rushed to contain the scandal. Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs and NDP secretary for organisational affairs, announced this week that NDP candidates for the November elections will be thoroughly scrutinised to ascertain their popularity, as well as their good reputation and their devotion to public service.
The NDP candidates selection process, El-Shazli explained, is multi-phased. "First, the NDP's General Secretariat receives nomination requests from the party's offices in 26 governorates," he said. According to the latest figures, nearly 1,400 nomination requests have been submitted to date. After these requests are scrutinised, El-Shazli went on, a preliminary list of 444 candidates -- corresponding to the number of contested parliament seats -- will be prepared. This list must eventually win President Hosni Mubarak's approval.
Nomination requests are also examined by the Interior Ministry, according to El-Shazli. Ahead of the 1995 elections, then Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi announced that the ministry had objected to nearly 10 per cent of candidates.
Some observers affirm that, for many hopefuls, especially businessmen, financial donations have proven to be a guaranteed way onto the NDP list of candidates. El-Shazli, however, said that strict instructions were given to NDP offices in the various governorates that no donations are to be accepted under any circumstance.
Confirming that major changes are to be expected in the new parliament's NDP candidate list, El-Shazli, however, declined to discuss the scope of those changes. Some opposition newspapers asserted that nearly 70 per cent of members of the outgoing parliament will be changed.
The credibility crisis the NDP is facing was recently compounded when the son of Hussein Megawer, chairman of the NDP Cairo office and deputy for the Maadi district, was caught cheating during the secondary school certificate examinations. Opposition newspapers asserted that the act of cheating was made possible through the assistance of Megawer himself. One newspaper said "it is not strange that the sons of NDP deputies are found guilty of cheating because, like fathers, like sons."
Until it comes up with its list of candidates in September, the NDP will have to grapple with the task of finding replacements for the four convicted loan deputies: Mahmoud Azzam, Khaled Mahmoud, Ibrahim Aglan, and Tawfiq Abdou Ismail. In Giza's Al-Saff district, the two NDP deputies -- Azzam and Sadeq Okasha -- are now serving jail terms, the latter for forgery. It is reported that the Azzam family has decided that Khaled, the elder brother of Mahmoud, be its candidate in the next elections. Khaled has already submitted a nomination request to the NDP's Giza office.
The door is now open before opposition candidates in Al-Beheira governorate's Al-Rahmaniya and Edko districts, to which Mahmoud and Aglan belong, to win the districts' two seats at the expense of the ruling party.
In Ismail's Dekerness district (Al-Daqahliya governorate), several young candidates will be competing for the seat. Ahmed Khater, a legal consultant at the People's Assembly and one of many hopefuls competing to win the NDP's official candidacy, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Ismail, a former minister of tourism and civil aviation, was a respected man in Al-Daqahliya governorate because of his long-term contribution to public service. "The verdict against him will create a vacuum, but, sooner or later, Dekerness will have to find another option," said Khater.
The Supreme State Security Court said last week that Ismail, who used to be chairman of the Daqahliya Commercial Bank, had surrounded himself by a gang of disreputable businessmen. The Court said Ismail had fallen prey to Yassin Aglan, providing him with LE168 million in loans without listing them in the bank's books.
Meanwhile, the announcement by People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour that the four deputies would not lose their parliamentary membership drew an angry reaction from constitutional experts. Mohamed Hamed El-Gammal, former chairman of the State Council, said, "Sorour argues that parliament is in a summer recess and that the dropping of membership requires the approval of two-thirds of MPs. This is wrong because this requirement is stipulated in political cases only." El-Gammal said it was shameful that, despite the verdicts reached against them, these four persons continue to retain their parliamentary membership.
Related stories:
Corrupt MPs suffer court fury- 29 June - 5 July 2000
