Potential communications minister Hazem Abdel Azim said on Wednesday that he is being subjected to a smear campaign.
Abdel Azim said in a statement that he is not the chairman of a company that some claim has connections with Israeli companies.
Abdel Azim is among the ministry nominees Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announced in a cabinet reshuffle, though their swearing-in has been postponed until further notice.
In his statement, Abdel Azim dismissed news outlets' allegations that he owns a cell phone programming company that cooperates with Israel. He also denied claims he met with Israeli officials in Taba in 2009.
Abdel Azim said he set up cell phone company Imagine It in 2001, which CIT acquired in 2004 and renamed CIT MOBiDIV.
CIT Holding owns several other companies with no foreign or Israeli investors, he added.
The potential minister said he owns a nominal 5 percent share in the company and added that he severed all relations with the company in May 2007 when he was appointed an adviser to former Communications Minister Tareq Kamel.
Abdel Azim's nomination was welcomed by internet activists who see him as an opponent to the Mubarak regime and an early participant in the 25 January revolution.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
