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| FACTBOX - Egypt's former ruling party and business Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:18 AM PST REUTERS - Many of Egypt's top business executives and leading firms have or had links to ousted President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party and the political elite. Ties were often through business contracts, shareholdings or board memberships. The party headquarters is a charred shell on the Nile after being set ablaze early in the protest and parliament, overwhelmingly dominated by members of Mubarak's party, has been dissolved. GAMAL MUBARAK, PRESIDENT'S SON AND FORMER TOP PARTY OFFICIAL The president's son Gamal Mubarak, 47, owns an 18 percent stake in EFG Private Equity, a subsidiary of investment bank EFG-Hermes AHMED EZZ, STEEL MAGNATE AND FORMER TOP PARTY OFFICIAL Protesters targeted many business executives but few drew more wrath from the demonstrators than Ahmed Ezz, chairman of Ezz Steel MOHAMED ABOU EL ENEIN, MEMBER OF RULING PARTY The chairman of Cleopatra Ceramics is a member of the NDP and of the dissolved parliament, in which he headed the lower house industry and energy committee. His party link was listed in a biography on his company website viewed on Jan. 30, but was not on the website on the day of publication of this article. Anti-government protesters burned a bus and showroom of Cleopatra Ceramics in the industrial city of Suez during the early days of the protests. The company did not return calls seeking comment. HESHAM TALAAT MOUSTAFA, MEMBER OF RULING PARTY The member of the upper house of parliament for the ruling party stepped down as chairman of Egypt's biggest listed property developer Talaat Moustafa Group when he was put on trial for his role in the murder of a Lebanese singer. He was sentenced to death, but in September, after a retrial, received a jail term instead. Analysts said at the time that the retrial verdict would fuel talk that the connected elite were above the law. Shares in the firm dipped and rose with each twist of the case. The firm has also been embroiled in a court dispute over the purchase of state land for its flagship project. Company officials could not be reached for comment. IBRAHIM KAMEL, SENIOR PARTY MEMBER Ibrahim Kamel, a board member of real estate firm Egyptian Resorts, is also a member of the ruling party's general secretariat, according to the Egyptian Resorts website. He sits on the board representing Kato Investment, which Kamel chairs. Kato has a 12 percent stake in Egyptian Resorts. Kamel previously served as the chairman of Egyptian Resorts and is the father of the new chief executive Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel. Egyptian Resorts is facing a legal challenge over a state land sale for a large coastal resort. Egyptian Resorts investors relations official Abu Bakr Makhlouf said he was not aware of any legal action against Kamel and the political turmoil was not affecting the company directly for now. RACHID MOHAMED RACHID, FORMER TRADE MINISTER Egypt imposed a travel ban and froze the assets of the former trade minister as "part of the precautionary measures taken against some officials after prosecutors received complaints of theft of public money". Rachid, who was previously a businessman involved in imports and exports, has denied wrongdoing and said he does not know what accusations were against him. He told Al Arabiya television he declined the position of trade minister in Egypt's new cabinet. AHMED EL-MAGHRABI, FORMER HOUSING MINISTER The former housing minister, who appeared before prosecutors last week to face charges of wasting public money and seizing state land, is related to the Maghrabi family. The Maghraby Investment and Development Company, a joint venture between the Maghrabi and Mansour family businesses, founded Palm Hills Developments, Egypt's second-largest real estate firm. Yasseen Mansour, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm Hills, is the brother of former minister of transport Mohamed Mansour, who resigned in 2009 after a deadly railway accident killed 18 passengers. There was no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Palm Hills officials, none of whom could be reached for comment. ZOHEIR GARANA, FORMER TOURISM MINISTER The former tourism minister was amongst those the public prosecutor said were banned from travel and under investigation on suspicion of theft of public money, profiteering, fraud, and other accusations. State television said Garana was accused of giving state land to a well-known tourist company as an incentive for it investing in his own firm, Garana Tourism, which was facing financial difficulties. Garana told Reuters on Monday that the accusations read like a "cheap play" and showed that Egypt had no effective law against slander. HABIB AL-ADLI, FORMER INTERIOR MINISTER The former head of Egypt's interior ministry has been barred from leaving the country pending investigations. Authorities have also decided to freeze his assets and those of family members. State media reports he is facing accusations that over 4 million Egyptian pounds ($860,000) were transferred to his personal account by a head of a contracting company. It was not possible to reach the former minister for comment. AHMED NAZIF, FORMER PRIME MINISTER Nazif, a former computer expert and academic who headed the telecoms ministry before leading the government, has also had a travel ban placed on him pending investigations. He could not be reached for comment. ANAS EL-FEKKY, FORMER INFORMATION MINISTER The former information minister, re-appointed after the cabinet was sacked in a vain attempt to quell protesters but who then resigned, has been banned from leaving the country but no charges have been levelled against him. Responding to the reports, Fekky said he had not received any notification from the authorities. "I don't think there is anything wrong. I know I have done my job in an honourable manner," he said. (Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Sonya Hepinstall) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
| Tunisian government extends state of emergency Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:18 AM PST TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Interior Ministry extended on Tuesday a state of emergency but lifted a night-time curfew which was declared at the height of protests that toppled the president last month. "The state of emergency will continue until further notice. The ministry also announced that the curfew ... has been lifted across the whole country," the official TAP news agency quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying. The curfew and state of emergency were declared on Jan. 14, a few hours before a wave of popular protests forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia. The caretaker government that took over after Ben Ali's overthrow kept the emergency measures in force to help it contain an outbreak of violence and lawlessness in the weeks that followed. Since then, stability has been gradually returning, though there are still flare-ups of violence and protests. There had been mounting pressure on the government to lift the curfew from the tourist industry -- one of the Mediterranean country's biggest sources of revenue -- which said the restriction was scaring off visitors. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Christian Lowe) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
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