Banking sources condemned the appointment of the businessman Rami Lakah to the Shura Council (Upper House of Parliament) among 90 public figures chosen by the Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi last Saturday. Sources said Lakah is still involved in financial lawsuits raised against him by state-owned banks. Sources described Lakah as “evasive" saying that the immunity of the Shura Council that is granted to him contradicts with placing him on a list of people barred from leaving the country last June as he was not committed to the debt settlement agreement of his debt owed to Banque Misr which reaches EGP 500 million. Afterwards, Banque Misr cancelled the agreement with the defaulting customer Rami Lakah. Banque Misr signed an agreement with Lakah from two years and half to repay his EGP 734 million debt through repaying EGP 165 at first and rescheduling the rest value over eight years. However, sources at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) said the appointment of Lakah to the Shura Council will not affect the settlement agreement of his EGP 230 million debt owed to NBE, Al Baraka Bank of Egypt and Arab African International Bank (AAIB) as Ayoub Adly Ayoub is committed to repaying Lakah's debt.
