The Egyptian Tax Authority has referred 46 employees to the administrative prosecutor for investigation, after they stopped working to protest the influence of the wife of the military’s chief of staff, Sami Anan.
Dozens of authority employees have held open-ended sit-in for two weeks outside the authority’s office downtown. They are demanding the dismissal of Mounira al-Qady, who heads a department in the agency, Ahmed Refaat, the head of the authority, and all others remaining in office exceeding the legal age. They also demanded an increase in bonuses.
Qady is the wife of Sami Anan, the vice president of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
The employees referred to prosecution said Qady has a strong influence on the authority because of her husband’s important position.
Mohamed Ahmed, the head of the Tax Authority Workers Independent Syndicate said Thursday that all authority employees would escalate their protest in response to the workers being referred to investigation.The employees will strike on Sunday if the administration continues to investigate their colleagues and not fulfill their demands, he added.
Ahmed also said representatives of the protesters met with Qady on Sunday. While she ignored their demands, he said, she did request they remove a photo at the sit-in that shows her wearing a military cap and standing beside her husband.
In February, the Facebook page of the Kazeboon (Liars) Campaign — which targets the SCAF and seeks to expose what it says are lies propagated by the military — posted a purportedly official document in which Qady implied that state employees who refuse to donate a portion of their salaries to a fund supporting the Egyptian economy would be punished.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
