CAIRO - As the revolution broke out in Egypt on January 25 to oust the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, protesters demanded the officials responsible for corruption be tried. As the revolution heated up, the Interior Ministry withdrew from the battlefield, leaving streets without security, because the police fled to their barracks, allowing thugs to steal their weapons and terrorise citizens in their homes. Vigilantes replaced the police, in order to protect their families and properties and even direct the traffic. The sudden disappearance of the police on January 28 after firing live bullets at protesters, has fuelled Egyptians' anager and raised many voices demanding tainted top policemen be probed and punished. Habib el-Adly, who was Egypt's Interior Minister from 1997 to 2011, has been detained along with other corrupt symbols of the former regime. He was referred to the Criminal Court on Monday. He faces charges of fraud, money laundering and for ordering security forces to shoot at the demonstrators during the early days of the protests. El-Adly's assets have also been frozen by a court order. What made things worse was that many people working in the Interior Ministry lacked experience, while el-Adly, instead of concentrating on detecting foreign or external attempts to harm the homeland, eavesdropped on officers' phone calls, to determine whether they were loyal to him or not, say his critics. He reportedly ordered the police to quit the streets on January 28 in protest against Mubarak's decision to depend on the Army to maintain security in the troubled nation. Years ago, one of the generals in the Ministry suggested to el-Adly that they ought to establish a body for providing the police with the things they need, such as food, clothing and healthcare, reported the opposition newspaper Al Wafd recently. The idea was a very noble one: helping to improve conditions for police officers. The Ministry of Interior established two companies to help provide the officers with their needs and the budget of the companies soon soared to LE2 billion. They made a lot of profit, but no-one knows where the money has gone, claimed the same report, which was independently verified.
