CAIRO - Dozens of activists Tuesday protested on the stairs to the State Council Court building after a judge deferred until November 23 two lawsuits against the sale of 100,000 feddans (acres) for a Saudi prince and the sale of Palm Hills land. The protesters, who chanted slogans for ten minutes before security personnel forced them to leave the place, included Hamdi el-Fakharani, a contractor who filed a lawsuit against the sale of Madinaty land to Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG). An administrative court said Tuesday it would decide on November 23 whether a governmental solution to a dispute over the sale of state land to TMG was valid. TMG's Madinaty real estate project has been mired in a legal row since a court said the land on which it is built should have been sold at auction, sparking concern among investors that other state land sales may be challenged TMG, meanwhile, said Tuesday it had signed the new State contract for its Madinaty project, after a court said the original deal was illegal because it was not sold at auction. The Government scrapped the original contract, but said it would return the land to the company under a new deal on the same terms based on its right to act in the national interest. The case has prompted more than one copycat lawsuit, including one challenging a State land deal with Palm Hills Development, Egypt's second-biggest listed developer. The cases hinge on conflicting laws governing State land deals. The original court ruling said a Housing Ministry body sold land to TMG in violation of a 1998 law. The Government said it was following legislation that preceded the 1998 law.
