Deputy Investment Minister, Yehia Hassan Abdel Hadi, said Thursday that he will enter the presidential race and hand his papers in on 10 March, the first day applications for candidacy will be received.
He told a press conference at an Omar Effendi branch downtown that he decided to launch his campaign from a place that he considers a decisive point in his life. Abdel Hadi filed a report against the sale of the company six years ago, which he said proves that he can be trusted by the Egyptian people.
The acting Investment Minister appointed Abdel Hadi as deputy Minister of Investment in May 2011. Abdel Hadi had previously been barred from holding any government position due to a report he filed to with the attorney general against the investment minister under Mubarak, Mahmoud Mohie Eddin.
The report accused Mohie Eddin of facilitating the privatization of the state-owned company Omar Effendi to Anwal United Trading owned by a Saudi investor, Gamil al-Kanbit.
An Egyptian court annulled the deal last July. Abdel Hadi said he fought for a long time to have the sale canceled.
Omar Effendi was a profitable company, but it was sold in a corrupt and shady deal that was not in the best interests of its true owners, the Egyptian people, Abdel Hadi said.
The company currently is US$1 billion in debt, while many workers have been sacked and terrorized, he said.
Abdel Hadi said that his electoral platform is like that of all other candidates, adding that he counts on Egyptian people’s trust in him.
Abdel Hadi said he rejected the politicization of the armed forces, the police, intelligence services and Egyptian diplomats.
He also said that freedom of belief is guaranteed to all Egyptians and that freedom of expression is sacred. Not religion, gender nor color will be the basis for discrimination among Egyptians, he added.
Abdel Hadi affirmed his commitment to respecting human rights and the preservation of the dignity of Egyptian citizens inside and outside Egypt.
