Sources at the Ministry of Agriculture said the contract for selling 100,000 acres in Toshka to Prince al-Waleed bin Talal was devised by the prince himself and approved by former President Hosni Mubarak after it was reviewed by the Council of Ministers on 12 May 1997.
The contract was then sent to the Ministry of Agriculture to sign in turn. Mahmoud Abu Sdeita, head of the ministry’s Agricultural Development Authority, had reservations about some clauses that were judged to violate state sovereignty. He also said the the contract should be reviewed by the ministries of irrigation, electricity and transport.
Those reservations were submitted to former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali, who ordered Sdeita to sign the contract, telling him the contract was referred from “a higher authority.”
The sources called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to review the contract.
The contract gives the right to the prince to dispose of the land in whichever way profitable to him.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
