Former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq said he is capable of taking revenge on his enemies in Egypt while he is in the UAE.
“I’m not out of tricks and I am able to say the right word at the appropriate time, but I want us in Egypt to reach democracy,” he added.
In his first television interview after the presidential election, Shafiq told Dream 2 satellite channel on Saturday that his arrest was not ordered in Egypt but rather he was only put on the arrivals watchlist.
In late August, the public prosecution put Shafiq, who currently resides in the UAE, on the arrivals watchlist after former MP Essam Sultan accused him of selling a plot of land owned by a pilots association to the sons of ex-President Hosni Mubarak at a below-market price.
Regarding his presidential nomination, Shafiq said that he met former Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi in order to find out what the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces thought of his decision to run for president, adding that he did not ask for their support.
“A number of members of the SCAF rejected my nomination for the presidency,” he said, adding that his opponents harmed him by claiming he was the SCAF’s secret candidate in the election.
Shafiq said accusations that he remains outside Egypt to escape imprisonment do not befit his long experience and service for Egypt. “I prefer to stay away to fix the situation, and I am fully aware when the right moment to come back to Egypt is. I am the one who can best tell when that moment is,” he said.
“President Mohamed Morsy does not want me questioned and imprisoned but there are other ill-intentioned people who are running a campaign against me.”
