A one-month war of words between Egypt's Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal and independent MP Anwar Al-Sadat reached a crescendo this week. On Sunday Al-Sadat, who is also head of the liberal Reform and Development Party, was questioned by parliament's Ethics Committee over two accusations: the leaking of copies of a government-drafted NGO law to a number of foreign embassies in Cairo without receiving parliament's prior approval, and faking the signatures of some of his MP colleagues. Sources indicated that the referral of Al-Sadat to the Ethics Committee came after parliament's internal bureau (composed of the speaker and his two deputies) investigated the charges in November last year. “At the end of the investigation, the bureau decided that Al-Sadat would be referred to the Ethics Committee to decide whether disciplinary measures should be invoked against him,” a source said. Ali Abdel-Aal The investigation of Al-Sadat was based on a memo submitted by Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali to Abdel-Aal last November. Wali asserted that some foreign EU ambassadors in Cairo had told her that they were able to obtain copies of the government-drafted NGO law from Al-Sadat. They said they believed the law was highly restrictive and did not serve the interests of NGOs in Egypt. Wali sent a complaint to Abdel-Aal, requesting that Al-Sadat be investigated for leaking “a national security matter”. Some MPs also submitted a complaint against Al-Sadat, alleging that he faked their signatures in support of a law he had drafted last year. Al-Sadat has repeatedly denied the accusations, insisting that draft government laws are not a national security issue and that the government had never sent a draft NGO law to parliament. Al-Sadat told reporters Sunday evening that he had told parliament's Ethics Committee that he does not trust its members. “It is a sub-committee, rather than the 15-member Ethics Committee, which took charge of investigating me. As a result I said it is the prosecutor-general who should question me in order for the investigation to be complete and transparent.” Al-Sadat, a nephew of former president Anwar Al-Sadat, also charged that parliament's Ethics Committee acts “like a jury and a judge at the same time. They want to tarnish my image in the eyes of all Egyptians and as this has become a matter of public opinion, I request that the prosecutor-general takes charge of investigating me,” Al-Sadat said. In a public statement last week, a defiant Al-Sadat took all by surprise when he accused the parliament speaker of misspending LE18 million in public funds on buying three armoured cars. “While Egypt is facing a severe economic crisis and while the president of the country Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is calling for austerity measures all the time, we see that parliament's 2015-2016 budget allocated LE18 million to buying armoured cars to be used by the speaker and his two deputies,” Al-Sadat charged. In response, Abdel-Aal told MPs in a plenary session on Thursday 2 February that he would not hesitate in taking all the necessary legal measures “against those who want to tarnish parliament's image”. Abdel-Aal said “the leaking of a parliament budget document to the media represents a national security crime in accordance with the constitution.” He added, “I will never accept receiving illegal money in any way.” Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati told MPs that ahead of the parliament being elected in January 2016, he asked the Ministry of Planning to approve buying an armoured car for the speaker of the upcoming parliament for security considerations. Alaa Abed, head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, told MPs that he was surprised that at a time of high security and terrorist threats, “Al-Sadat refuses that an armoured car be allocated to the second man in this country — the parliament speaker,” said Abed. Abdel-Aal said, “some media figures who pursue foreign agendas are doing their best to recruit some MPs who also share these agendas to disrupt parliament and the country as a whole. “I want to tell this group that my patience is running thin and that I will lift the veil on this clan which is ready to spend a lot of money to disrupt Egypt's democratically elected parliament,” Abdel-Aal said. Head of parliament's Budget Committee Hussein Eissa said the committee would issue a detailed statement on “the cost of the three armoured cars and how and why they were bought”. Al-Sadat said Abdel-Aal's remarks about him “show that the Ethics Committee works under personal instructions from the speaker and this makes the investigation unfair”. Al-Sadat opened fire on Abdel-Aal, insisting that parliament's decision to buy three armoured cars represents just the tip of an iceberg of corruption in Egypt's parliamentary circles and vowed to issue more reports about the misuse of public funds by parliament. “The misuse of public funds in Egypt's parliament has become an issue of public opinion, not to mention that MPs should exercise their power in raising questions about parliament's funds,” Al-Sadat said. “I vow that I will force parliament's Budget Committee to open more files about corruption and misuse of public funds when it meets to discuss parliament's 2015/2016 budget,” Al-Sadat warned, adding, “I am sure that what I said about the purchase of expensive cars represents just the tip of an iceberg of corruption and misuse of public funds.” “I am also ready to face any kind of questioning because nobody is above the law. I promise I will be loyal to securing the interests of the people who voted for me.” Al-Sadat questioned the parliament's secretariat-general's statement last week, saying that when parliament was dissolved in 2012, the speaker's heavily armoured car was sent to the cabinet to be used by the prime minister. “While this represents a complete assault on the parliament's funds, parliament should move quickly to recover this car or refer the case to prosecution authorities to investigate how this car was used by the cabinet,” Al-Sadat said. Parliament's secretariat-general said in a statement last week that a request to buy 25 cars to serve the needs of the speaker, his two deputies and other senior officials and to replace older models was made in December 2015 — one month before parliament was elected – by Al-Agati. In response, Al-Sadat said parliament's 2015/2016 balance sheet mentioned nothing about the 25 cars. ”I want to ask who decided that the 25 cars were no longer viable for use and who decided that a fleet of 25 new cars — including an expensive armoured vehicle — were to be bought while parliament was dissolved?” Al-Sadat rebuffed parliament's statement accusing him of opting to make his accusations public on TV channels without first contacting the parliament's secretariat-general or seeking a response from the speaker. “Since the new parliament was formed in January 2016, I have tried many times to seek answers from the secretariat-general and the speaker,” Al-Sadat said, adding, “the only response I received was when I decided to resign as head of parliament's Human Rights Committee.” “When I sent them the resignation request, they said they wholeheartedly welcomed it,” Al-Sadat said. Meanwhile, Mohamed Akl, a member of the Ethics Committee, told reporters that a report on the results of an investigation into Al-Sadat on Sunday will be presented to speaker Abdel-Aal. Akl indicated that after the Ethics Committee had investigated Al-Sadat on Sunday, he said he wanted to be questioned by the prosecutor-general because he did not trust the committee. “Al-Sadat has the right to defend himself but it is the committee, in accordance with parliament's internal bylaws, which has the final say whether he should be investigated by the prosecutor-general,” Akl said.
