A candidate to lead the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, Hazem Abdel Azim, said Wednesday evening during a television appearance that the cabinet had excluded him from a reshuffle due to security reasons. Abdel Azim said he received a phone call from a cabinet official who told him that his nomination to the new cabinet was problematic in light of reports that he had ties with an Israeli company. “The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is a sensitive institution related to national security and it is hard to have you run it in light of news circulated in media,“ Abdel Azim said the cabinet official told him. Abdel Azim said he asked the official whether there were other security reasons behind revoking his nomination, but the official told him that his reputation is “above reproach” and that the problem is in the news. On Tuesday, several local newspapers reported Abdel Azim heads the board of an Israeli telecommunications company, in which he holds a 5 percent share, attributing the information to anonymous sources. Abdel Azim has denied the reports, saying he was subjected to a smear campaign. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm he was not upset to be excluded from the new cabinet and that he only wanted to refute the allegations. He said the rumors circulated after he criticized officials on a TV show. Abdel Azim was announced as a potential minister candidate in Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet reshuffle, expected to be finalized Thursday. Abdel Azim said he would support software industry and create an authority affiliated with the ministry to be responsible for receiving public complaints and inquiries, as well as to reconsider communications and information technology law. The telecommunications sector staff and activists on Twitter and Facebook welcomed Abdel Azim's nomination. Abdel Azim participated in revolution protests and criticized the former regime when he was the CEO of Egypt's Information Technology Authority. He has received many international certificates including two patents and worked for international companies including IBM and Microsoft. Translated from the Arabic Edition
