CAIRO: Over allegations made by local media, Hamdeen el-Sabahy, a candidate for the Egyptian presidency, requested a legal investigation with himself to take place. It was reported recently in some newspapers and television news programs that the door of legal investigation, regarding the distribution of some of the territory of the country on a number of alumni and citizens in need within the framework of a state projects in the era of the former regime for the distribution of land through the Ministry of Agriculture, was opened. Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper in its issue dated May 13, attributed a number of sources saying that el-Sabahy's name is included in investigations by the Illicit Gains Authority about the project. However, he said he didn't receive any summons. Thus, el-Sabahy took the initiative to issue a statement to the public over what was published, according to the request of an investigation he sent to Assem el-Gohary, head of the Illicit Gains Authority. He said that he sent the statement to all forms of media, “but al-Masry al-Youm did not publish it against the right to reply and the commitment to professional values till the timing of submitting the request, which caused me moral damage,” he said. In the statement, el-Sabahy confirmed that he does not have any land but that which he inherited from his father and is installed in his financial disclosure that he put forward to the Secretariat of the People's Assembly in its legal dates four times in the years 2001, 2005 (twice) and 2010, at the beginning and end of each legislative session of the two sessions he was elected as a member of the parliament for al-Hamul and al-Burullus constituencies. “During the time serving as a member of the Parliament I have recommended many of the requests of citizens of the constituencies of al-Hamul and al-Brullus for buying a piece of land within the framework of the state projects for the distribution of land to the graduates and those in need, and the total of the approved are only 3 applications with five acres each,” he said. El-Sabahy added that when these requests had been accepted, the distribution of land had been based on the formal and legal methods according to the state's projects through the Ministry of Agriculture, and that the three applicants mentioned above were worthy of such shares of land in accordance with the legal rules of the project. “The recipients of the land was dealing directly with the Ministry of Agriculture in signing of contracts, payment of money and receiving the land, all were done by applicants themselves, I had no direct dealing with the ministry in that regard except for recommending their demands,” el-Sabahy continued. He welcomed the legal investigation into the matter and praised the regulators who began the investigation in order to expose corruption and abuse of power in the distribution of the state's land. He also said that he is fully prepared to accept any accountability and to provide the necessary papers and documents to substantiate his position and its truthfulness. “I thankfully demand taking the necessary legal procedures to investigate with me in this regard, and to publish the results of the investigations to the public opinion in order to uncover the truth and to preserve my reputation,” he said in his investigation request. BM
