Maverick businessman and former MP returned to Egypt on 11 March after settling LE1.4 billion of debts owed to Egyptian banks, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Scores of ordinary citizens gathered at Cairo airport on 11 March to greet , the former MP and Roman Catholic business tycoon who fled Egypt in 2003 to escape LE1.2 billion of debt. Citizens from Lakah's one-time constituency of Azbakiya (downtown Cairo) made a show of drumming, singing and ululating to welcome him. Lakah, who was accompanied by his brother and business partner Michel, told his supporters that he hoped his return would open a new chapter in his life and in his relationship with the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. "I am not interested in triggering political clashes and revenge is the last thing on my mind," he said. Lakah did, however, accuse former prime minister Atef Ebeid, and former chairman of Banque du Caire Ahmed El-Bardei, of forcing him to flee Egypt in 2003. "They both had designs against my businesses and a political axe to grind," he said in a press interview. Lakah, the chairman of the industrial and healthcare conglomerate the Holding Company for Financial Investments (Lakah Group), left Egypt in 2003 owing LE1.2 billion to six banks, the Banque du Caire (currently Misr Bank), Misr Iran Bank, the National Bank of Egypt, the International Islamic Bank for Investment and Development (currently United Bank), the Egyptian Saudi Finance Bank, and the Egyptian Commercial Bank (currently Piraeus Bank). In the same year the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) had ordered that Lakah's parliamentary membership be rescinded because he held dual -- Egyptian-French -- nationality. Lakah subsequently fled to Paris. "My financial difficulties began when Ebeid appointed El-Bardei as chairman of Banque du Caire in 2000," said Lakah. "El-Bardei did his best to force me out of the market, refusing to take into account the negative impact of the nation's liquidity crisis and economic recession on my businesses." "The recession not only forced me into financial squeeze, but also seriously hit government ministries, on top of which was the Ministry of Health, which owed my companies more than LE600 million. I asked for time and for a fair settlement of my debts but Ebeid's government stubbornly refused." Lakah, 47, insists that "Ebeid was more than eager to push me out of parliament so that his friend, Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, the current parliamentary spokesman of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), regain his seat in Azbakiya." "I was the first democratically-elected Christian MP in Egypt in 50 years and this explains why hundreds of people gathered at Cairo airport to receive me," he said. A Roman Catholic, Lakah played a major role in organising the late Pope John Paul II's visit to Egypt in February 2000. "It is no secret that part of my massive popularity lies in the fact that I used to give monthly salaries to tens of poor Muslim and Christian families in Azbakiya and brought many jobs to young people there." Lakah is still undecided about whether to pursue a political career. "Running in parliamentary elections this year could be an option but I have yet to make a final decision," he says. Two weeks ago the People's Assembly stripped Hani Sorour, Azbakiya MP and NDP business tycoon, of parliamentary membership after he was convicted in absentia of selling substandard medical equipment to public hospitals. Sorour fled the country before being arrested. Lakah says he supports President Mubarak running for a new term of office in the presidential elections of 2011 but insists he is not a supporter of the ruling NDP. His business future plans, he said, are to focus on restructuring his commercial group. "Part of my debt crisis was a result of expanding into too wide an area of activity. Now I intend to concentrate on my core business of manufacturing medical equipment, the area I best understand." Ebeid dismissed allegations that his government's policies had forced many businessmen to flee, telling the Shura Council that, "banks were fully independent in taking decisions about their loans in coordination with the Central Bank of Egypt". Mohamed Ragab, NDP Shura Council member, told Al-Ahram Weekly that, "it was the SCC's ruling which forced Lakah to flee Egypt rather than the political conspiracies he alleges." "Like many other businessmen Lakah took wrong decisions, accruing a level of debt it was impossible for the lending banks to forgive." Lakah is not the first fugitive tycoon to return to Egypt. Hoda Abdel-Moneim, a businesswoman known popularly as the Iron Lady, returned at the end of last year after settling most of her debts. The list of the fugitives who might yet seek to return includes iron magnate Hatem El-Hawari, retailing tycoon Amr El-Nasharti, and textile factory owner Adel-Agha.
