Archive for Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots

Investigating judge reports evidence against Shafiq

by admin
October 11th, 2012

Osama al-Saidi, the judge assigned by the Justice Ministry to investigate corruption accusations against former presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq, searched the headquarters of the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots on Thursday and reportedly obtained new documents incriminating the suspect. 

Saidi told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the documents prove that Shafiq illegally seized 39 villas and chalets on the North Coast.

The agriculture minister has agreed with Saidi to submit a memorandum to President Mohamed Morsy requesting the cancellation of a decree former President Hosni Mubarak issued in 1991 that allegedly helped Shafiq acquire the land. The decree transferred land overlooking the Great Bitter Lakes near the Suez Canal from the General Authority for Fish Resources Development to a pilots' housing association headed by Shafiq. Shafiq is accused of then selling the land to Mubarak's sons at below-market prices.

The memorandum demanded that the land be returned to the fisheries authority and alleged that Mubarak and former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali seized 119 acres of land surrounding the lakes.  

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Shafiq, Mubarak’s sons referred to criminal court over land sale

by admin
September 11th, 2012

 

An judge has referred former Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, the sons of deposed President Hosni Mubarak and four others to a criminal court over a corrupt land sale.

Judge Osama al-Saeedi has ordered Shafiq to be arrested and detained pending trial over facilitating the sale of a 40,000-square meter plot of land in Ismailia's Bitter Lakes region to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak at a preferential rate. The land belonged to the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots, which Shafiq was the head of at the time of the land sale.

Saeedi accused the defendants of profiteering, forging official documents and the intentional squandering of public funds.

Other defendants include former association chairman Nabil Farid Shokry, general secretary Mohamed Reda and board members Mohamed Raouf and Mohamed Kamal.

Shokry had reportedly pled guilty to the charges.

The complaint against Shafiq regarding the land sale had been filed by former MP Essam Sultan from the Wasat Party.

Speaking to Al-Ahram newspaper from the United Arab Emirates, Shafiq said that the referral was expected and suggested that investigations into the case were influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Shafiq lost the presidential elections in June after competing against Freedom and Justice Party candidate and current President Mohamed Morsy in runoff elections.

Shafiq left Egypt after losing the election, and last month was placed on a "watch list" that said he should be detained at the border if he tried to return.

"The decision to place me on a watch list is political," Shafiq told Sky News Arabia from Dubai. "I will return to Egypt when it is suitable for me to do so."

Edited translation from MENA

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Update: Sultan says Shafiq must return to Egypt, face trial, after judge puts former PM on airport watch list

by admin
August 29th, 2012

A judge investigating corruption at the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots has put former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq on an airport watch list for involvement in the case, meaning he would be detained if he tried to enter the country.

"The investigative judge decided to put General Ahmed Shafiq's name on the watch and travel ban lists based on investigations over his illegal allocation of 40,000 square metres of land … to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak," Reuters quoted Judge Osama al-Saidi as saying.

Shafiq left the country and flew to Abu Dhabi two days after he lost the presidential elections in June. Since then, the Shafiq campaign has released statements claiming that the former candidate is preparing to return to Egypt and launch a new political party, but analysts doubt these claims.

Saidi put Shafiq on the watch list following investigations in a complaint filed by former Prime Minister Essam Sultan against the former prime minister. In May Sultan, the vice president of the Wasat Party, accused Shafiq of profiteering and corruption in his illegal allocation of 40,000 meters of Pilots Association-owned land in the Bitter Lakes region to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of Egypt's toppled president, at preferential rates. 

Shafiq was chair of the Pilots Association at that time.

Sultan said that Shafiq had sold 40,238 square meters of land to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Sultan alleged that the sale was for LE0.75 per square meter, while the real value set by the government was LE8 per square meter.
 
The investigations into the accusations began in late June. A panel at the Illicit Gains Authority reviewed documents submitted by the association's board and found that Shafiq was responsible for the land allocation, which took place in 1990 while he headed the association.

He was also found responsible for the subsequent sale of the allocated land. The panel found that the sale contract mentioned a land space larger than what was allocated.

The panel's report supported the outcome of investigations by regulatory authorities and testimonies by the association’s board members.

Investigations may also probe possible document forgery relating to the allocation.

Shafiq denied all charges and has accused Sultan of being associated with the former regime. Sultan responded by saying he hoped Shafiq would return to Egypt to "to face a fair trial and present evidence on the accusations he made against me." 

Sultan requested all those who doubt that Shafiq sold land lots for peanuts to Gamal and Alaa Mubarak to add their voices to him, and demand that Shafiq should return to Egypt and appear before an investigating judge to ward off the charge himself.
 
Writing on his official Facebook page, Sultan requested Shafiq  to return such land and any other funds gained from it to the state, saying deputies in parliament and candidates for elections should safeguard the money of the Egyptian people.

Shafiq supporter Ahmed Abdel Ghany blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the charges.

"I warn them to not touch General Shafiq when he comes back or else civil war will break out," he told Reuters.

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Former PM Shafiq put on airport watch list

by admin
August 29th, 2012

A judge investigating corruption at the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots has put former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq on an airport watch list for involvement in the case.

Judge Osama al-Saidi took the measure following investigations in a complaint filed by former Prime Minister Essam Sultan against Shafiq. In the complaint, Sultan accused Shafiq of allocating 40,000 meters of association-owned land in the Bitter Lakes region to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of Egypt's toppled president, at preferential rates.

A panel at the Illicit Gain Authority reviewed documents submitted by the association's board and found that Shafiq was responsible for the land allocation, which took place in 1990 while he headed the association.

He was also found responsible for the subsequent sale of the allocated land. The panel found that the sale contract mentioned a land space larger than what was allocated.

The panel's report supported the outcome of investigations by regulatory authorities and testimonies by the association’s board members.

Investigations are also possible document forgery relating to the allocation.

Edited translation from MENA

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More officials called as witnesses in Shafiq corruption case

by admin
July 26th, 2012

A judge investigating charges that former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq squandered public funds will call the head of the Agrarian Reform authority Zakaria Helal as part of the investigation into Shafiq’s allocation of state owned plots of land to the two sons of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Judge Osama al-Saidi has been investigating charges since 12 July that Shafiq sold plots of land in the Bitter Lakes district in Ismailia to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak for less than the market value during his tenure as head of the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots in 1993.

Saidi has also been tasked with investigating allegations that Hosni Mubarak and former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali seized 119 acres of land owned by the General Authority for Fish Resources Development and allocated it to the pilots association.

There have been conflicting reports about the land’s original ownership; some say it belonged to the ministry while others say it belonged to the Suez Canal Authority.

Most recently, Saidi heard the testimony of Mohamed Fathy Osman, head of the General Authority for Fish Resources Development, who supported claims that the land was seized and given to the pilots association.

Investigations revealed that Mubarak had issued two contradicting presidential decrees to identify the entity entrusted with the Bitter Lakes district.

In 1983, he issued a decree charging the General Authority for Fish Resources Development with overseeing water territories, including the Bitter Lakes district. However, Mubarak issued another decree in 1991 excluding the district from the authority’s supervision.

Edited translation from MENA

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Fisheries head called in Ismailia land seizure case

by admin
July 19th, 2012

Judge Osama al-Saidi, tasked by the Justice Ministry with investigating land seizure claims filed against former Mubarak-era officials, has summoned the head of the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) for testimony.

A complaint was filed with the public prosecution accusing ousted President Hosni Mubarak and former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali of seizing large areas of land owned by the GAFRD in Ismailia and allocating them to the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots in the early 1990s.

Former MP Essam Sharaf filed a complaint accusing former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq of selling plots of this land to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak in 1993, when he was serving as head of the Pilot’s Association.   

Saidi asked the head of GAFRD, Mohamed Fatehy Osman, to submit documents proving that the lands had been seized. Two officials in Suez and Ismailia gave their testimony in the case a few days ago.

Saidi has formed a committee including the Illicit Gains Authority, a number of land authorities and experts from the Tax Authority to examine documents in the case.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Mubarak, Wali accused of seizing government lands

by admin
June 25th, 2012

 

The Justice Ministry has begun investigating several complaints filed against ousted President Hosni Mubarak and former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali, who are accused of seizing large areas of land owned by the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) and allocating it to the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots (CHAMP), said a judicial source.

Judge Osama al-Saidi has requested evidence regarding this case as well as regarding related allegations against former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who is accused of selling Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, land belonging to the Pilots Association at well below market value.

Lawyer Saad Mohamed Saleh filed a complaint to the public prosecutor, who referred it to Judge Osama al-Saidi to begin investigations.

A number of officials at the Agriculture Ministry and the CHAMP were also accused of involvement in the acquisition of 119 acres of lands belonging to the GAFRD in the Bitter Lake region and of illegally distributing these land plots to military pilots.

A judicial source said that Saidi had begun the investigations and that the necessary legal action will be taken within hours, includingsummoning the lawyer who filed the complaint in order to examine the documents he presented, and finding out whether or not there are any witnesses.

In related news, a judicial source said that a committee of Justice Ministry experts is currently finalizing its report regarding land sold to the Mubarak sons by the CHAMP in light of the complaint submitted by former MP Essam Sultan against Shafiq.

Sources said that members of the investigative committee have examined the land in question and determined its boundaries as they made the reports.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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