The administrative court revoked yesterday a decision by the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) to impose financial and administrative control on private newspapers owned by individuals and joint-stock companies. El-Khamis newspaper editor in chief Amru el-Laithy had appealed against the decision and sued both the Prime Minister and the CAO chairman in their qualities. He had also demanded that private and independent newspapers not be put under CAO control and not be forced to submit their financial statements and final accounts at the end of every financial year. The court justified its ruling by saying that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be restricted. It also affirmed that freedom of the press is one of the most important manifestations of freedom of expression and that this freedom cannot be denied through a law, a decision or a decree. The court referred Article 33 of the law regulating the press to the Supreme Constitutional Court to see whether it is constitutional or not. This article gives the CAO the right to impose financial control on all newspapers. The editors in chief of private newspapers welcomed the court's ruling and said it had put a remedy to a wrong situation. Amru el-Laithy said freedom of the press can not be restricted by constraints or sanctions. Al-Fagr editor in chief Adel Hamouda said CAO's task is to control the government, its bodies and institutions, while joint-stock companies are outside its competencies. As for al-Osbo editor in chief Mustafa Bakri, he said: "We already have enough laws restricting freedom of the press. Why do you want to put new obstacles?" A member of Al-Masry Al-Youm board of directors said the newspaper complied with the previous decision and sent the balance sheets of the past four years to the CAO. He added Al-Masry Al-Youm had also said it was ready to send any data required by official organs and would publish these balance sheets in order to be fully transparent with its readers.
