23 - 29 August 2001
Issue No.548
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 23 - 29 August 2001 Issue No.548 |
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Lakah hard times
Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Sorour has rescinded Rami Lakah's parliamentary immunity from charges of writing valueless checks. Lakah has responded by accusing Sorour of being influenced by personal ties. Gamal Essam El-Din follows the spat
People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour says that his recent decision to rescind the parliamentary immunity of MP-businessman Rami Lakah was made on purely objective grounds. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Sorour said that Lakah was given three grace periods to honour three cheques he had issued to three business partners, but to no avail. Sorour also said that Lakah failed to prove that requests submitted for the removal of his immunity were motivated by malice. "In order to turn down requests for the removal of the immunity of a certain MP, it is essential that he proves that malicious considerations stand behind those requests," Sorour argued.
Sorour
LakahIn a telephone interview from London with Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, Lakah asserted that Sorour was swayed by personal interest when he approved requests to rescind his immunity. Specifically, Lakah cited the request submitted by Hossam Abul-Fotouh, an agent for a German car manufacturer. "Sorour approved Abul-Fotouh's request primarily because his brother Kamal, deputy-chairman of Misr International Bank, is involved in joint commercial activities with Abul-Fotouh," said Lakah. He added, "In violation of the Assembly's internal statutes, Sorour even refused to show me the original cheques which Abul-Fotouh claimed I issued."
Sorour responded that the original cheques are always kept by the prosecutor-general. He also said that when he showed Lakah photocopies of the cheques he had failed to honour, Lakah did not claim that his signature had been forged, as he had maintained in the interview with Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine. "I was really sorry to read that he alleged that I had been motivated by personal interests in dropping his immunity," Sorour added.
The requests for rescinding Lakah's immunity alleged that he bounced cheques and failed to honour bills valued at LE9.5 million. Included in this sum was a worthless cheque for LE5.9 million that Lakah allegedly paid to Abul-Fotouh. A fourth request to remove Lakah's immunity was submitted this week, charging Lakah with issuing a worthless cheque for LE150,000 to businessman Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid Atta. The request, which Sorour is expected to approve, means Lakah will face an additional investigation.
In the interview with Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, Lakah also lashed out at the performance of the Assembly and threatened to resign. "I will declare very soon my resignation as member of the Assembly and as deputy chairman of the Assembly's Foreign Relations Committee. The Assembly's position on the Palestinian case and its reaction to the siege imposed on Iraq were pallid and even shameful," Lakah said.
Palestine notwithstanding, Lakah's financial troubles are expected to crescendo. Ahmed El-Baradie, chairman of Banque du Caire -- to which Lakah owes an accumulated debt of LE650 million -- has asked Prime Minister Atef Ebeid for permission to take legal action against Lakah. As a result, yet another request for rescinding Lakah's immunity is likely to be submitted to parliament.
Lakah's troubles are not only financial. On 27 August, the Supreme Administrative Court is due to hand down a final ruling on the validity of Lakah's parliamentary membership. The Court is likely to order that Lakah's parliamentary membership be annulled: on the grounds that he has dual nationality. The Court of Cassation -- Egypt's highest judicial authority -- earlier ruled that citizens holding dual nationality must be barred from contesting general elections. Lakah, a 38-year-old businessman, has a French as well as an Egyptian passport.
Lakah, an independent MP representing Cairo's commercial downtown district of Al-Azbaqiya, is one of around 22 MPs who may lose their parliamentary seats for holding dual nationality, dodging military service and committing financial irregularities.
Mohamed Moussa, chairman of the Assembly's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, told the Weekly that the committee will convene to examine the rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court ahead of the opening of the new parliamentary session next November. "The rulings issued by the Supreme Administrative Court are final and cannot be appealed. They must be respected by parliament but only with the approval of a two-thirds majority," said Moussa.
In addition to Lakah's case, the Supreme Administrative Court is due next week to begin hearings on another controversial case: that of the parliamentary membership of Minister of State for Military Production Sayed Mashaal, who represents South Cairo's industrial district of Helwan. His parliamentary membership was annulled by the Administrative Court following last year's elections but he appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
Meanwhile, Sorour also agreed last week that Bahaa El-Miligi and Ahmed Ewaiss, two MPs belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), can testify before the Prosecutor-General in connection with alleged charges of misappropriation of public funds and forging official documents.
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