CAIRO - Public Prosecutor Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud decided on Monday to refer the report of MP Essam Sultan against Ahmed Shafiq, a presidential candidate and former regime official, to the Supreme Public Property Prosecution, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reports. In Sunday's People's Assembly (PA) session, Sultan accused Shafiq of illegally benefiting from the former regime. “While he was head of the Pilots Association, he sold 40,000 square metres of land, rightfully owned by pilots, to former president Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, for 75 piastres per square metre, at a time when one square metre of the land was wort at least LE8,” said Sultan. Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, the PA Speaker, decided to refer the case to the Public Prosecution. Sultan accused the Government of distancing Shafiq from all of the former regime's dirty business, adding that Zakaria Azmi, the former presidential chamberlain, is being tried for an illegal deal involving half an acre of land. The MP called on the Government to return these properties to the State and suggested that Shafiq's continuous promotions were directly tied to this illegal negotiation with Mubarak's sons. Shafiq is still the head of the Pilots Association, Sultan added. Meanwhile, in a press conference held in Cairo on Mondday, Shafiq accused Sultan of transmitting news of protesters to the Security State Agency. “Until recently, Sultan was the Security State Agency's [SSA] man and the SSA used him to get information about political movements, including the Kefaya Movement and the National Assembly for Change,” he said. Shafiq added that Sultan mediated between the security agencies and protesters in Tahrir Square, during last year's revolution. “Sultan was dishonest with the Kefaya Movement, as he told the security agencies about its meetings. He was also behind the imprisoning of Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater,” he argued. Shafiq said that he has nothing to do with selling pilots' land, adding that the land had been evaluated as worthless. “The land was no good for agriculture. Shafiq's campaign co-ordinator, Mohamed el-Qutri, issued a statement later on Sunday in which he described Sultan's allegations as being "very far from the truth". El-Qutri added that Sultan is trying to ‘sabotage' Egypt's presidential elections. Sultan has been a strong parliamentary advocate of Egypt's recently enacted 'Disenfranchisement Law,' which bans figures associated with the Mubarak regime from holding senior State positions for five years. Shafiq was disqualified from the presidential contest late last month, shortly after Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) approved the law. He returned to the race, however, after his appeal was accepted by the SCAF-appointed Higher Presidential Elections Commission, which has since referred the law to Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court. The court is expected to deliver a verdict on the law's constitutionality on 28 May.
