Allegations of profiteering and misuse of public funds made against Ibrahim Nafie, former chairman of Al-Ahram and an appointed Shura Council member, are to be investigated, Gamal Essam El-Din reports On Saturday the Shura Council agreed that Ibrahim Nafie, the former editor- in-chief and chairman of the board of Al-Ahram, should be stripped of his immunity so he can be questioned over charges of profiteering and the misappropriation of public funds. In a 15-page report the council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee pointed out it was able to ask members to drop Nafie's immunity only after receiving a request from Justice Minister Mahmoud Abul-Leil. A month ago, said the committee's deputy chairman Ragaa El-Arabi, the council had allowed Nafie to testify before the prosecutor-general without fully stripping him of immunity. "Later, however, the prosecutor-general asked Abul-Leil for Nafie's immunity to be lifted so that legal action against him can proceed," El-Arabi revealed. In his request the justice minister stated that the prosecutor-general's investigation had established that Nafie was implicated in a number of financial malpractices, including profiteering and misappropriation of public funds. The request indicated that the charges levelled against Nafie come from three sources: Al-Ahram's former legal consultant Mostafa El-Bortoqali, editor of the independent weekly Al-Osbou Mostafa Bakri and Saad El-Halawani, who works in Al-Ahram's advertising department. According to the request the charges are serious and appear well-founded. In 2003 Nafie is alleged to have bought 1,012 feddans of land on the Cairo- Alexandria desert road for the purpose of agricultural reclamation, at a price of LE2,200 per feddan. In less than a year he sold the land at prices ranging from LE110,000 to LE231,000 per feddan, making a profit of around LE100 million. "This represents a serious misuse of the assets of the General Authority for Reconstruction and Agricultural Development (GARAD) from which Nafie bought the land and which stipulates there must be a minimum seven-year land reclamation period before investors become eligible to sell such land on," said the request. Nafie is also accused of awarding contracts to supply Al-Ahram with all office equipment and printing materials to a company, the Egyptian International Inter Group Company for Trade, set up by his sons Ahmed and Omar in 1989. "This is a serious violation of the bidding procedures law which states that board chairmen of public sector organisations must seek the approval of the prime minister before awarding contracts to suppliers," said the request. "Prime ministerial approval is essential in ensuring that suppliers are selected through a competitive bidding." Nafie is also accused of disposing of Al-Ahram assets at knock-down prices. Nafie has said repeatedly that the charges he faces are part of an ongoing smear campaign against him. In a memorandum submitted to the Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, he said the allegations are part of a concerted attempt to defame the national press. " Al-Osbou editor Bakri heads a campaign that seeks to privatise the national press and in order to make a case he does his best to demonstrate that national newspapers are corrupt and misuse public funds," said Nafie. Nafie was keen to attend the council's session on Saturday, mainly to dispel rumours that he had escaped abroad. He told parliamentary reporters that though he had returned to Egypt from Libya in the early hours of last Saturday he was keen to attend the council's meeting on the same day to demonstrate to all that he was "capable of responding to the malicious campaign" and prove that he would "never travel outside Egypt at this critical moment". Nafie said he had been in Libya to attend the annual meeting of the Union of Arab Journalists (UAJ), of which he has been chairman since 1996. Nafie's return to Egypt on Saturday met with the approval of Shura Council members. Ibrahim Shahin, from the ruling National Democratic Party, said Nafie's presence was a strong riposte to those who claimed he planned to escape abroad.
