Finance Minister Ahmed Galal discharged on Tuesday 15 of the ministry's advisors for having ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and in accordance with the prime minister's decision to cut the number of advisors, said a senior source at Galal's office. Among those cut are Ahmed El-Nagar, the minster's advisor for sukuk affairs; Abdallah Shehata, the minister's economic advisor; Mahmoud Farahat, the minster's adviser for government service authority; Kamal El-Din Atef, the minister's legal advisor; and Azza Sharaf, supervisor of the minister's office. Also discharged were Maged Shebeta, the minister's legal adviser; Mohamed Mekawy, the minister's adviser for foreign affairs; Hamdy Samir, the state debt adviser; and legal advisers Walid Sharaby and Amr Sobhy. The ministry emphasised that the decision was not politicised, but follows Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi's latest decision to curtail the number of advisers in all ministries in order to cut expenditures and ease pressure on the treasury. "I received the minister's decree by phone, because I was at home and I did not go to the ministry today," said the minister's former adviser for sukuk affairs, Ahmed El-Nagar. "They said this decision is to reduce the number of advisors in all ministries, but I believe this is a notion to discharge advisors who are members of the Muslim Brotherhood." El-Nagar added however that he respected the minister's decision. Meanwhile, Galal called on his adviser Atef Malash to supervise his bureau instead, and to form a committee to inspect all the decisions made by former minister of finance Fayyad Abdel Moneim. One of Abdel Moneim's decisions while in office was to remove Malash when the latter was working at the ministry's budget department.
