CAIRO: Former Lawyers' Syndicate Chairman Sameh Ashour denied Wednesday that the Public Prosecutor has imposed a travel ban on him pending an investigation into alleged financial violations committed during his term. “This news is untrue. I have not been prevented from leaving Egypt. Neither was I subject to any investigation whatsoever,” Ashour told Daily News Egypt. Press reports said Tuesday that the Public Funds Prosecution is preparing a memorandum to present to the Public Prosecutor recommending he imposes a travel ban on Ashour. In July, Lawyers' Syndicate board member Mohamed Abdel-Ghaffar denied press reports that an official complaint was filed by the syndicate against Ashour accusing him of seizing LE 10 million during his term. Abdel-Ghaffar told Daily News Egypt Wednesday that on July 1 he had filed a complaint before the Public Prosecutor against a number of syndicate employees accusing them of committing financial irregularities and appropriating syndicate funds based on an internal investigation conducted over 70 days. “The complaint has nothing to do with Ashour himself as … these employees may have worked under any other chairman. But some of them might have mentioned Ashour in the interrogation,” he explained. According to Abdel-Ghaffar, the amount unaccounted for is LE 5 million, not more than LE 10 million as reported. “The employees used the money in their possession without offering [logical] accounts,” he previously noted. “Yet, I may blame Ashour here for negligence in managing public funds,” Abdel-Ghaffar said. Meanwhile, Ashour accused current syndicate chairman Hamdy Khalifa of spurring this “false news.” “Khalifa pays bribes … to publish such [fallacious] news to … divert attention from exposing his mistakes,” Ashour claimed. “Everybody is talking now about the failures of the syndicate [under Khalifa's chairmanship],” Ashour added. Ashour recently urged lawyers to withdraw confidence from Khalifa if he does not hold a general assembly meeting on Sept. 30.
