On Monday state-run, opposition and independent papers alike report on the latest updates concerning the "Madinaty" case. Earlier a court issued a decree nullifying the sale of 5000 acres of land for real estate development, which, according to the ruling, were sold at less than market value, in favor of the investor. The verdict panicked thousands of investors who had bought units in the real estate project.
Al-Ahram state-run daily leads with the headline “Mubarak orders the formation of a neutral legal committee to study ‘Madinaty’.” According to the paper, the president has confirmed the necessity of a legal resolution that takes into account the interests of the residential units' owners, stockholders, and the project’s employees.
The same headlines appear in Al-Akhbar and Al-Gomhorriya, in addition to other headlines from yesterday's cabinet meeting with Mubarak. Both newspapers highlight an abundance of schoolbooks for the new school year.
Independent and opposition media also focus on the "Madinaty" story but from different angles. Saeed Abdel Khalek, Al-Wafd's editor-in-chief, questions, in his front-page editorial, the secrecy of the land-selling deals. Khalek uses the court's argument that “the contract was concluded in silence and secrecy and no one was informed of its items except two parties–the investor and the Ministry of Housing–which is against transparency."
Al-Shorouk mentions the presidential spokesman, Soliman Awad, as saying that Mubarak is keen to enforce judicial sentences and also to encourage an atmosphere of investment.
In a similar public property abuse scandal, a top government official misused millions of Egyptian pounds worth of health treatment on the state’s account, according to reports. Al-Wafd reports in its top headline that the MP who originally highlighted the case has demanded that the Minister of Finance pay back LE3.5 million to the state treasury. According to the MP (named Bakry), who provided the general prosecutor with evidence, the Minister of Finance has visited the US nine times over the past year to receive medical care.
Al-Gomhorriya is the only state-run paper to report on the health-care abuses. “Bakry before the Chief Prosecutor: The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance are accused of misusing public money,” reads the paper's headline. The report adds that the minister received his approval for his health-related trips from the premier.
Earlier this month the Minister of Health returned the LE1,745,000 his wife had received for health care to the treasury.
Al-Dostour quotes Egypt’s First Lady, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, as saying she will talk at the right time, when asked about the probability of Gamal Mubarak (her son) succeeding his father as president. “I have no comment on this issue… I’ll talk at the proper time,” Mrs. Mubarak said at an African and Red-Sea International Entrepreneurship Forum.
Al-Shorouk features a prominent Muslim intellectual denying that he had accused the church of hiding arms. According to the paper, Mohamed Selim al-Awa, the head of Egypt’s Association for Culture and Dialogue, said in interview with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel, “I didn’t say that churches are full of weapons…and if I said it I’m ready to apologize."
Al-Awa’s statements to Al-Jazeera provoked church officials and prompted a media flurry in the last 48 hours.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose el-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party's Policies Secretariat
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt el-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
