Egypt Millionaires `Sacrificed' as Mubarak Turns to Military for Support

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

Egypt’s uprising may ring the political death knell for a group of millionaires who helped shape the government during the past six years.

Ahmed El Maghraby, a property developer and hotelier, and Ahmed Ezz, chairman of Ezz Steel, Egypt’s biggest producer of the metal, were among the businessmen ousted from cabinet and ruling party positions after President Hosni Mubarak turned to former military men for top posts as he clings to power.

Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, a former air force commander, said they were left out of the cabinet intentionally. “The involvement of businessmen in public service wasn’t 100 percent positive,” he told state-run television yesterday.

The government of premier Ahmed Nazif, which Mubarak fired last week, had attracted record foreign investment, helping the economy expand at the fastest pace in at least two decades. At the same time, political opponents said some local executives used their links with Mubarak to further their own interest.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/egypt-millionaires-sacrificed-as-mubarak-turns-to-military-for-support.html

[riverwalker]

1. and their money is paying off the police and mobs

to attack the demonstrators, no doubt.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Nope

US aid pays for that.

[karynnj]

5. Why would you say that - they are now out

They are not likely supporting Mubarak. A good question is whether any shifted to the protesters.

The scary thing is this makes it clearer that Mubarak moved to what is in essence a military government with Suliman as his VP. This makes for a stronger case of why Mubarak needs to out of the transition.

[dipsydoodle]

2. He's gonna run out of money soon'ish

Banks have yet to open since last Friday and I think their Stock Exchange is closed too.

Broadly speaking they have only 3 sources of income : US aid , tourism and funds from other Arab States.

Their tourist industry is fucked for the rest of this year and the Arab States are already suspicious of the outcome of this.

What's needed is US aid to cease at least for now.

[malaise]

4. So you think he and his goons won't force the banks to open

and let them access accounts.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Wouldn't matter if he did

They probably don't hold much in the way of hard cash and his goons couldn't do the necessary electronic transfers.

Their ATM system has also been down for almost a week now.