Archive for MP Essam Sultan

Justice Ministry investigates Shafiq for squandering public funds

by admin
June 28th, 2012

Judge Osama al-Saidi has begun investigating complaints submitted by former MP Essam Sultan accusing Ahmed Shafiq of squandering public funds.

Saidi, who was assigned the investigation by the Justice Ministry, has dispatched a committee of experts to the Bitter Lakes district in Ismailia to inspect the land that Shafiq had allegedly allocated to the former president's sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, when he was minister of civil aviation. It is alleged that Shafiq sold the land for a price lower than its real value, which is considered a deliberate waste of public funds.

Saidi instructed the committee to measure the exact size and location of the land to determine its market value at the time it was sold, and decide whether or not it was squandered.

Parliament had referred Sultan’s complaint to the judiciary, along with the contract in which Shafiq, in his capacity as head of the Pilots Association, sold 40,238 square meters to Mubarak’s sons in 1993 for LE0.75 per square meter, while the market price at that time was not less than LE8 per square meter.

Shafiq, who lost in the presidential runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy, flew to the United Arab Emirates following the official announcement of the election results.

Besides serving as civil aviation minister under deposed President Mubarak, Shafiq was also appointed prime minister when protests erupted demanding Mubarak’s ouster in January 2011.  

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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MP calls on candidates to form presidential council before Parliament

by admin
June 3rd, 2012

A Wasat Party leader has called on Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy and former candidates in the presidential race to attend Sunday’s People’s Assembly session to “explore the possibility of forming a presidential council.”

MP Essam Sultan, chairman of the party’s parliamentary bloc, also asked former presidential candidates Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh to attend the session.

It is expected that in the session Morsy will pledge to make the former contenders his deputies if he is elected president.

On his official Facebook page, Sultan said, “I invite the candidates to attend the session as a prelude to swearing the oath provided for in Article 30 of the Constitutional Declaration before the entire assembly, in response to and as an implementation of the will of the Egyptian people, who are now revolting in Egypt’s squares.”

Article 30 requires Egypt's president to swear to respect the constitution and the law and the preserve the nation's independence.

Sultan said the step would resolve what he called the “unjustified refusal” of the head of the military council and its members to swear in before the People’s Assembly since they took over power from longtime leader Hosni Mubarak on 11 February last year.

Such a refusal was not supported by the constitution, the law or the will of the Egyptian people, Sultan said.

Politicians and revolutionary movements had suggested the formation of a presidential council that would include Morsy, Sabbahi and Abouel Fotouh to face former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, whose win in the first round of the presidential election angered many activists who view his victory as a return of the ousted Mubarak regime. The runoff is slated for 16 and 17 June.

Earlier today, Abouel Fotouh announced on Twitter that he would meet with Sabbahi and Morsy to discuss their plans for the runoff.

“The meeting will bring together a number of national figures who will all do their best  to meet their responsibilities in light of current events the country is experiencing,” Abouel Fotouh said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Judge to investigate Shafiq on profiteering and corruption accusations

by admin
May 27th, 2012

A judge will soon begin investigating profiteering and corruption accusations that an MP has leveled against presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq, state-owned news agency MENA reported Sunday.

Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the president of the Cairo Court of Appeal, has assigned Judge Osama al-Saady to investigate the complaint MP Essam Sultan filed against Shafiq.

In the complaint, Sultan, the vice president of the Wasat Party, said 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, but the real value set by the government was LE8 per square meter, the complaint reads.

The land belonged to the Pilots Association, which was chaired by Shafiq at the time.

Earlier this month, Shafiq refuted the accusations, accusing Sultan of being a former state security informant.

Sultan previously proposed the controversial law that would have banned Mubarak's top former officials from running for president. Shafiq was Mubarak's last prime minister and a former air force commander.

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MP corruption accusation against Shafiq referred to public prosecutor

by admin
May 13th, 2012

People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny decided Sunday to refer corruption allegations against presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq to the attorney general.

The accusations were included in a motion submitted by MP Essam Sultan of the moderate Islamist Wasat Party.

During the assembly’s session Sunday, Sultan said he has a sales contract for a 40,038-meter-wide lot of land located near Murra Lake (Great Bitter Lake), located east of Cairo.

Sultan said Shafiq sold the land to the sons of toppled President Hosni Mubarak, Alaa and Gamal, for 75 piasters per meter, even though the state had allocated it for the Junior Pilots Cooperative Association, over which Shafiq has presided since 1993.

Sultan added that no public servant has been allowed to inspect the work of that association or access its data.

The MP, who presented a photocopy of the alleged contract during the session, also claimed that the sale enabled Shafiq to rapidly advance in his career, becoming Air Force chief, aviation minister and later prime minister.

He also accused authorities of deliberately removing Shafiq’s name from all accusations handled by investigation bodies.

A Parliament-issued law signed by the ruling military council would have denied certain Mubarak-regime figures, including Shafiq, their political rights. But the Presidential Elections Commission referred the bill to the Supreme Constitutional Court to decide on its constitutionality, allowing the former minister to continue running.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Wasat, Nour representatives walk off talk show due to Suleiman campaigners’ presence

by admin
April 14th, 2012

Wasat Party MP Essam Sultan and Nour Party spokesperson Nader Bakkar walked off the set of a talk show on Thursday evening to protest the presence of representatives from former Vice President Omar Suleiman’s presidential campaign.

State-run Al-Ahram newspaper’s website reported that Sultan and Bakkar left the studio of "Cairo Time," hosted by Hafez al-Merazy on the Dream Channel, following an altercation with Merazy.

"I never imagined that I would have a dialogue with murderers. Since the events of the 25 January revolution and what happened during the Battle of the Camel, I refuse to sit with anyone implicated in the killings," Sultan said.  

"The attempts of those responsible for the program to force me [into discussion with Suleiman’s representatives] in this disgraceful manner are unacceptable … As I have already made clear, I refuse Omar Suleiman's nomination [for president], because it means that the revolution has not happened," Bakkar said.

Al-Ahram quoted Bakkar as saying, "The polishing Omar Suleiman in media has been in full swing over the past few days, and I refuse to be part of it, as an oppositionist."

Freedom and Justice Party MP Mohamed al-Beltagy praised Sultan and Bakkar on his Facebook page on Saturday, adding: "I was more pleased that the producer of the program also walked out after Merazy refused to apologize to the guests for not being transparent with them."

"More importantly, this incident should be a clear lesson for all media personnel who are thinking of campaigning for or even 'normalizing relations' with Omar Suleiman. We will not recognize Israel's agents," Beltagy wrote.

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Parliament to hold extraordinary session to discuss Mubarak regime members ban

by admin
April 10th, 2012

Parliament has decided to convene on Wednesday to discuss the draft law that was submitted by MP Essam Sultan of the Wasat Party banning all those who worked under Mubarak in the last ten years of his rule in leadership positions or the dissolved National Democratic Party from assuming the office of president, vice president or prime minister for 10 years as of Mubarak’s resignation on 11 February 2011.

Hussein Ibrahim, head of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party’s parliamentary committee, called for carefully studying the draft law in order to ensure that its constitutionality is not challenged, thereby postponing the elections.

“The Muslim Brotherhood deputies shun discussing the law so that they are not accused of paving the way for their own candidate,” said Ibrahim.

MP Amr Hamzawy requested that the law also ban them from running for Parliament or local councils, while MP Ahmed Saeed, leader of the Free Egyptians Party, feared the draft would be construed as specifically targeting a particular candidate.

For his part, MP Amr el-Shobaki feared the draft law would be a deviation from the path of democracy into a kind of discrimination.

“The draft is unconstitutional,” said Mohamed Attiya, minister of parliamentary affairs. “Only a court ruling decides this matter.”

The members of the legislative committee denied the claim by MP Ihab Ramzy that the committee had not reached a quorum when it voted on the law.

Meanwhile, six presidential hopefuls have called on Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, to endorse the law on banning former regime symbols from running in the presidential elections immediately after it is passed by Parliament.

Candidates Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, Mohamed Selim al-Awa, Ayman Nour, Hesham al-Bastawisy, Amr Moussa and Abul Ezz al-Hariry agreed on the constitutionality of the law in a meeting on Tuesday.

They also called on the Presidential Elections Commission to examine the signatures submitted by Omar Suleiman and Ahmed Shafiq, two former regime officials, claiming that they ordered government officials and army and police personnel to collect them.

The candidates agreed to meet late April in order to work together on achieving the national goals of the revolution, but denied that they are in permanent session until the crisis of the other candidates is resolved.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Parliament committee approves bill outlawing Suleiman presidential candidacy

by admin
April 9th, 2012

The People's Assembly's Proposals and Complaints Committee approved on Monday a bill amending the presidential elections law 123/2011 by adding a clause banning former regime figures from running for president, state-run Al-Ahram newspaper has reported.

The added clause had been proposed by MP Essam Sultan, vice president of the Wasat Party, during a parliamentary session on Sunday.

The approval came at the end of discussions attended by Minister of Manpower and Immigration Fathy Fekry, the newspaper said, adding that the draft was amended per the suggestion of MPs Amr Hamzawy and Mohamed al-Beltagy.  

According to the bill, those who served in leading government in the five years leading up to Mubarak's resignation are banned for ten years from running for the posts of president, vice president, prime minister and government minister. Included are those who were presidential staff, security, parliament members and ruling party officials.

The committee unanimously approved the bill after installing the changes backed by the manpower minister, especially those made to the paragraphs talking about retroactive application of the law and naming officials appointed by the deposed president.

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