The Egyptian committee tasked with managing Muslims Brotherhood funds notified the Egyptian stock and the financial supervisory authority on Wednesday to freeze the assets of Moustafa Mokhtar Sakr, the CEO of Business News Company for Press and Publication, for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Business news is the owner of Daily news Egypt and Al-Borsa Economic Newspaper.
Business news released a press statement denying the accusations and saying that neither the company nor its employees belong to any political, religious or partisian factions and that the company has been working in the field of media since 2008 with a liberal editorial policy.
Moreover, the company said that it filed a grievance complain against the decision. "The company is confident in its legal status and has nothing to be afraid of," the statement said.
Moreover, the company's legal representative filed an appeal this morning to the committee explaining all the company's legal and financial aspects and the editorial policy of its publications.
The company said that it has been operating in accordance with Press Law number 96 of 1996 as an Egyptian shareholding company; and its publications have the license of the Supreme Press Council and apply all the legal rules and professional requirements in the editorial content.
The company said that the budget and all its activities reports are available and approved by the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) pointing out that it covers the activities through its capital and advertisement revenues, and has never received any fund from local or foreign parties.
Sakr, the CEO of Business News, said that the company will defend its reputation and the interests of more than 230 employees working there; and will follow all the ways to prove the validity of its legal position which is compatible with all the Egypt laws.
"This is the company that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi chose (in one of its publications), to publish an article in 2014 and 2015 about the economic policies of the country, as a message to be addressed to foreign investors participating in the Euromoney conference," the statement said.
Sisi's article at the Daily News Egypt
The statement pointed out that Sisis's articles emphasized the importance of the publications and its journalistic credibility to the Presidency; whereas everyone knows very well that it investigates each person and publication they deal with, which made the company very surprised by the decision of the committee.
