Justice Minister Mamdouh Marie stood with opposition and independent MPs against Ahmed Ezz, chairman of the Budget and Planning Committee of the People's Assembly [Egypt's lower chamber of Parliament] while the bill on judicial fees was being considered. Tension mounted when Mr. Ezz joined the meeting while it was drawing to an end and called for changing Article Nine, which had been approved by the Committee and the minister. He also called for approving the proposal put forward by Dr. Mustafa el-Said to cancel the 5% of taxes collected from lawsuits. When Minister Marie refused, though, Ezz left the meeting blaming the minister and saying: "This wasn't our deal, it's not fair". The independent, opposition and Muslim Brotherhood [MB] members of the Committee labeled Ezz's conduct as an offence against the Assembly. Independent MP Mustafa Bakri called for Ezz to be referred to the Ethics Committee, saying he had behaved inappropriately. Although some MPs tried to water down the criticism, many of their colleagues voiced their dissatisfaction. Justice Minister Mamdouh Marie joined the criticizers and said laws cannot be thrashed out in favor of individual people. He also affirmed that the approval put forward by Dr. Mustafa el-Sayyed would make the law unconstitutional. "I can't agree on this proposition, as it would serve the interests of only 0.6% of the population" he said. Ezz had proposed to amend a paragraph of Article 9 of the law which includes collecting a quarter of the fee on lawsuits between LE 10,000 and LE 40,000, while he called for these lawsuits not to exceed LE 50,000. He had also demanded that the 5% fee be cancelled by imposing a partial variable fee not exceeding LE 50,000. Eventually, the Committee unanimously approved the bill as put forward by the government without taking into consideration Ezz's amendments.
