Gamal Essam El-Din follows the heated discussions that accompanied a draft law regulating the trial of cabinet ministers The Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Shura Council provisionally approved a new draft law regulating the trial of cabinet ministers suspected of illegal practices. Saturday's decision raised hopes that the bill will eventually be endorsed by the People's Assembly (PA). If approved by the PA the new 14- article bill, submitted by independent MP Alaa Abdel-Moneim, will replace a law dating from the 1958-1961 merger between Egypt and Syria, said committee chairman Ragaa El-Arabi. El-Arabi announced that two other bills, submitted by independent MPs Kamal Ahmed and Gamal Zahran, had been rejected because they lacked the necessary clarity. Abdel-Moneim's draft comprises 14 articles divided into three sections dealing with the process, guarantees and penalties relating to the prosecution of cabinet members. Under the new bill the right to take legal action against cabinet ministers will not be restricted to the president of the republic or the PA. According to El-Arabi, a former prosecutor-general, any citizen will have the right to file a complaint of ministerial misconduct with the prosecution authorities which will then be obliged to investigate and submit a report to the Supreme Court recommending whether the case be shelved or trial procedures be initiated. Abdel-Moneim, a former police officer who also runs a legal practice, argues that grounds for the impeachment of a member of the cabinet should include any actions that violate national security or the constitution and any unwarranted intervention in the electoral process. The draft is unlikely to pass onto the statute books anytime soon. El-Arabi pointed out that the constitution requires any laws drafted by MPs in the PA that effect the executive authority to be discussed first by the Shura Council. When he received the drafts proposed by the three independent MPs El-Arabi submitted them to the minister of justice for comment. "The minister has refrained from giving a response till now, delaying any possible timetable within which Abdel-Moneim's draft might finally be endorsed," said El-Arabi. Articles 159 and 160 of the constitution authorise the president of the republic as well as the PA to initiate the procedures necessary to bring a cabinet minister to trial. But the laws regulating any such cases stipulate the trial take place before a mixed Egyptian- Syrian court, a condition impossible to meet since the two countries abandoned their merger. Abdel-Moneim's bill argues that it is unacceptable that the constitution should draw on a law that is impossible to implement. El-Arabi points out that the de facto suspension of the 1958 law does not mean that there is a constitutional and legal vacuum. "Many cabinet ministers have been tried in the courts and judicial procedures have been initiated in accordance with the penal code," he said, citing cases brought against former electricity minister Ahmed Sultan and former tourism minister Ahmed Noah, both of whom were tried before the court of cassation in the 1980s. Shura Council members such as professor of law Anwar Raslan agree that there is a pressing need for the effective regulation of ministerial trials. "The constitution requires the trial of cabinet ministers to be governed by a well-defined law," says Raslan, who argues that they should be referred to trial not just on charges of corruption or abuse of power, but also for violating their political responsibilities. Fathi Ragab, deputy chairman of the committee, believes that only parliament and the president of the republic are in a position to assess how ministers exercise their political responsibilities. "The proposed trial of cabinet ministers must be restricted to criminal rather than political practices," he insists. "In the past we would hear a host of unsubstantiated accusations being levelled against ministers as soon as they left office, died or abandoned their political careers," says Abdel-Moneim. Now, though, ministers are accused of malpractice while still in the cabinet, a result, Abdel-Moneim suggests, of so many pursuing business interests while still serving in government. Abdel-Moneim cites the case of former minister of housing Ibrahim Suleiman. Forty seven MPs lodged a request with the prosecutor-general, asking him to investigate Suleiman on charges of abusing his position when in office and selling large plots of land at knockdown prices to construction and real estate tycoons. "While in office Suleiman amassed a large personal fortune, ran nine limousines, acquired three large plots of land in the district of Heliopolis [East Cairo] and three villas in the North Coast beach resort of Marina," said the request. Abdel-Moneim further alleges that Suleiman registered many of his possessions in the name of his wife and children to evade detection. In a written response to parliament and the prosecutor-general Suleiman said that he acquired the bulk of his assets before being appointed minister of housing in 1994. The interest in regulating the trial of cabinet ministers follows on the heels of accusations levelled against the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif which contains an unprecedented number of high-profile businessmen. Only last week rumours reached fever pitch that Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Amin Abaza had links with Optima Security Brokerage, the investment company whose owner, Nabil Mahmoud El-Boushi, was arrested in Dubai on charges of swindling $68 million from as many as 85 unsuspecting clients. Abaza moved quickly to quash the suggestions, issuing a statement emphasising that he resigned from his position as an executive director of Optima after being appointed minister of agriculture in 2005.
