CAIRO - The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) former Liaison Officer Ahmed Ezz will be remembered, according to his detractors, as the man who set the nation ablaze, corrupted political life and reduced his party's political adversaries to puppets. The Prosecutor-General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud has banned travel and frozen the bank accounts of Ezz who was sacked over the weekend. Mahmoud said he ordered the restrictions on Ezz along with the four ex-ministers of interior, housing, tourism and trade until security was restored in the country. The iron and steel tycoon, whose wealth is unofficially estimated at LE50 billion (about $8,547,000) is being sacrificed at the altar only to appease the angry masses demonstrating in Al Tahrir (Liberation) Square in central Cairo for a dramatic change in the 30-year leadership, say observers. Ezz drove the final nail in the coffin of the political life in Egypt when he was allegedly given free rein to manage the parliamentary elections in December last year. A state of euphoria overwhelmed his superiors in the ruling party when he pledged confidently to give the opposition and the independents the knockout in these elections. Left alone in the ruling party's operation room, Ezz allegedly ran massive election rigging at a level previously unknown in the history of political life in Egypt. He then accused the routed opposition of being impotent, useless and unworthy of taking part in politics. The ruling party won more than 90 per cent of the legislature in recent parliamentary elections. Ezz addressed the opposition-free Parliament to proudly declare that the ruling party had prepared itself combatively for the election battle while the opposition and independent candidates had sent their time in foolish talk. An NDP member claimed that he was rudely ordered to keep silent when he warned that the complete elimination of the opposition from the Parliament would soon bring about disastrous results for the ruling party's reputation. NDP member of Parliament Hisham Moustafa Khalil claimed to the press that he had also warned the Liaison Officer that the election results and the growing allegations about rigging would wreak havoc on the country's political life. “He (Ezz) arrogantly told me and other colleagues that we did not understand anything about politics,” said Khalil, whose father is the late Prime Minister Moustafa Khalil. He added: “Ezz also told us that he knew better than anyone.” The deputy said that they decided to stop arguing with Ezz after he thrust his fingers into his ears to no longer listen to our warnings. Ezz, 45, was ordered this week to submit his resignation from the ruling party after the dramatic events on January 28, when anti-regime protesters had violent clashes with brutal police. There were press reports that his private jet had flown his first wife and children to Cyprus before continuing their trip to an undisclosed destination. The same reports also claimed that the airport authorities in the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada had seized about two kilograms of jewellery and gold items his family was carrying abroad, in addition to about $80,000. Ezz married the former MP Shahinaz el-Naggar, who is a wealthy businesswoman and shot to fame meteorically. Having a few million Egyptian pounds in his pockets some years ago, the embattled businessman was supported by governmental and influential NDP officials in managing to monopolise the iron and steel industry in Egypt and in the Middle East, say his critics. Part of the huge profits his industrial empire used to spin was used to finance the ruling party's logistics. Being the chief financial supporter to the NDP, he easily eliminated its icons and despised think-tank members. However, Ezz compensated himself for the money he lavished out on the party and its activities by outrageously increasing the iron and steel price in the domestic market. He was accused of throwing the building sector into chaos with the result that young couples failed to buy lowcost housing units offered in the market and cold-shouldered the devastated young people. He reportedly rejected protests from several construction companies, which had to suspend their activities after incurring huge losses as a result of the steady growth in iron and steel prices. Worse, he obstructed bills submitted to Parliament to end the monopoly of building materials and the protection of buildings displaying unique architectural features. Ezz has been the chairman of the board of directors and the Managing Director of Ezzsteel since he founded the company in 1994. He also serves as the Chairman of Ezz Group. Ezz has been a member of the Egyptian Parliament since 2000.
