CAIRO: The legislative committee at the People s Assembly (PA) agreed to increase the financial fines to be paid as a penalty by plaintiffs for intentionally delaying legal procedures, to three times the current amount, Georgette Kalien, PA member representing the National Democratic Party (NDP), told The Daily Star Egypt. The committee will put the motion to the vote next week, she added. The government had earlier filed a request to increase the fines to five times their current amount to make them more efficient and useful. But some committee members demanded only doubling the current amount. As a middle solution, Zakaria Azmy [PA member affiliated with the NDP] proposed to make the increase three fold. His proposition was accepted, said Kalien. The new law will alter a change in article 36 of the forensic procedures law that regulates legal procedures in Egypt. Kalien said that this way the amount would be affordable for the public. Eventually we reached a fair judgment that would enable the fine to serve its purpose and at the same time does not prevent any citizen from his right to access legal procedures, Kalien added. Sobhy Saleh, PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, disagreed. He told The Daily Star Egypt that the government s proposal is inconvenient to the public, even though he agrees on principle to an increase in the fines. Yet he was wary of other increases in legal fees which could make the poor unable to use the legal system, as it might become too expensive for them. However those requests have not yet been discussed. The government s request deals with the legal system as if it is restricted to the rich, Saleh added. Karam Al-Hafian, PA member affiliated with the NDP, rejected the increase request altogether and asked for al fines to be cancelled. But, according to Saleh, PA Speaker Fathy Sorour ridiculed Al-Hafian s demand and commented that the PA should in that case also consider abolishing all criminal punishments. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, Al-Hafian has also asked to fine judges who show up late to trials and public prosecutors who leave plaintiffs waiting for hours while they speak on the phone. Sorour dismissed both suggestions.
