CAIRO: A natural gas agreement with Israel continues to spark widespread animosity among Egyptian activists, especially as former President Hosni Mubarak faces questions from prosecutors over the deal with the Jewish state. Prosecutors are claiming Egypt lost some $714 million on the deal which many argue “hurt Egypt's interests.” Egypt's Arabic media has reported the leaked details of the interrogations with Mubarak, in which he denies having had “inappropriate” discussions with Israeli officials. According to local press, Mubarak said former Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy and his team were responsible for the agreement with Israel. “The responsible committees submitted a report to me saying that price Israel was offering was in accordance with world prices,” Mubarak was quoted as saying. Earlier in the week Fahmy said in his interrogation, “The gas deal with Israel was the responsibility of Mubarak and previous Egyptian ministers – I had no connection to it.” In March, the interim government said it would review the price of gas sold to Israel and other countries, according to statements from Minister of Petroleum Abdoul Allah Ghurab. He added that the current price has been modified and there is a possibility of increasing the prices in the contracts signed between Egypt and the countries that import the gas. The Minister also told reporters that these prices are subject to periodic review to determine the best export rates, and said there are still technical issues behind the delay in Egyptian Gas Deliveries to Israel. Egyptian opposition forces have repeatedly expressed their disapproval of the former regime's policies towards selling Egyptian gas to Israel at lower prices than the international market. Former Egyptian Minister of Interior Sameh Fahmy has been interrogated by the Egyptian prosecution since the beginning of March over allegations of squandering public funds through signing contracts with a foreign State at rates below the international market standards, in reference to Israel. In 2005, Israel and Egypt signed a 15-year natural gas export deal, where Israel would receive 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas annually. BM
