POLICE arrested former top auditor Hisham Geneina, an aide to ex-military chief of staff Sami Anan on Tuesday. The arrest came after Geneina claimed in an interview with the Arabic service of The Huffington Post website that Anan had been detained because he is in possession of documents that would implicate many Egyptian officials in crimes if they were made public. Anan who was arrested after announcing his presidential bid as he did not seek the permissions required to run for president or taken the steps necessary to terminate his military service. The Armed Forces accused him of “blatant” incitement against the military with the intention of “driving a wedge” between the army and the Egyptian people and of forging documents stating his service with the military had ended in order to run for president. As a result he was wrongly listed as an eligible voter. Anan's son, Samir, dismissed Geneina's claims as “complete nonsense”. He said on his twitter account that “what Geneina said was based on lies and fabrications and I have just asked my father's lawyer to file a lawsuit against him”. The Armed Forces said on Monday that it would pursue legal action against Geneina. His claims, said the army, “amount to crimes and aim to raise doubts about the state and its institutions” at a time when the Armed Forces are waging a battle to uproot terrorism. Samir Anan said his father was a member of the ruling military council since the 2011 Revolution and this means that he was a partner and a major decision-maker until elections were held in 2012. Samir said that Geneina's remarks show that he is serving the Muslim Brotherhood agenda and wants to set the country on fire. Anan's lawyer Nasser Amin distanced his client from Geneina's controversial remarks. He described Geneina's claims as “unfounded and untrue”. Amin pledged to take action against anyone who spoke to the media “attributing words and acts to Anan that undermine his legal status”. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) said on 7 February that it had started printing 60 million ballot papers for the election. A day later NEC Spokesperson Mahmoud Al-Sherif revealed 1,558 journalists from print, broadcast and TV news outlets had been approved to cover the poll.
