CAIRO: Conflicting reports surrounded the reasons behind a travel ban on Yasser El-Mallawany, CEO of Cairo-based regional investment bank EFG Hermes, as shares in the firm fell 4.5 percent on Monday. The stock's closing price reached LE 11.01 after hitting a low of LE 10.87 earlier in the trading session. The main EGX 30 index was down 1 percent to 4,539 points. In a statement to the Egyptian Stock Exchange early in the day, EFG Hermes said it learnt that El-Mallawany was prevented from traveling on Sunday night. The statement did not say why. An Associated Press report quoted an anonymous source from the Justice Ministry saying that El-Mallawany and Gamal Omar, close friends of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, are under investigation for allegedly hiring thugs to attack revolutionary youth groups at a Port Said football match on Feb. 1. Other reports denied that this was the reason behind the travel ban, without specifying the actual reason. Violence last week in Port Said left at least 74 dead in what many Egyptians have labeled a “massacre.” Since then, at least 12 have died and over 2,000 were injured in protests sparked by the Port Said tragedy, during which security forces have used teargas and birdshots to disperse crowds, according to eyewitnesses. Officials at the bank told AP they had not been told of the reasons behind the travel ban, which was discovered when El-Mallawany was stopped at Cairo's international airport while trying to head to the United Arab Emirates. "Yasser El-Mallawany was indeed prevented from traveling outside Egypt according to a decision taken by the general prosecutor," General Magdy El-Seman, manager of the passports' department at Cairo International Airport told Reuters. With offices in Cairo and London, EFG Hermes, one of the largest investment banks in the Middle East and North Africa, has repeatedly come under fire this past year for its affiliation with Gamal Mubarak and his close business associates. Ousted president Hosni Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa, are both facing trial on corruption charges. Gamal owns 18 percent of the investment bank's subsidiary EFG-Hermes Private Equity, which generates no more than 7 percent of EFG Hermes Holding's total revenue. EFG has said it does not manage any funds or portfolios for Mubarak or his family and did not receive any special privileges from the Egyptian government. Following the fall of Mubarak, the Egyptian public prosecutor banned some of his officials and businessmen from traveling, pending investigations into corruption allegations. Shares in EFG Hermes plunged 5.7 percent at the opening of the market on Monday and trading was suspended, Reuters reported. Under stock exchange rules, shares are temporarily suspended if they rise or fall by more than 5 percent. –With additional reporting by agencies
