After 12 years ..the Criminal Court ruled with the acquittal of Hussein Mogawer and a journalist in El Ommal Newspaper on the background of an investigation related to the quarries of Beheira
South Cairo Criminal Court, 11th Circuit acquitted , Hussein Mogawer, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) chairman and the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the El Ommal Newspaper, and Mr. Ahmed Hark, the editorial supervisor, and the journalist, Safaa Al-Bahar, an editor in the newspaper, in Case No. 11306 of 2011, press misdemeanors, on the background of an investigation regarding suspicions of fraud in hiring within the Quarries and Building Material Project in Beheira Governorate.
On March 21, 2011, the Newspaper had published an investigation report entitled “violations of Beheira quarries before the Public Prosecutor…
a female nurse salary amounting one hundred thousand pounds”. The details of this investigation shows that a number of workers in Beheira Quarries Project filed a report to the former Public Prosecutor, Counsellor Abdel Maguied Mahmoud against the project’s executive director regarding what they indicated as a fraud in hiring and extending the period of service of the assigned persons for periods that exceeded the legal limit for their hiring.
The report indicated that the executive director, the director of financial affairs, had assigned his wife from the nursing department in Chest Hospital to occupy the position as the head of the stock administration department, bypassing 13 employees who are more deserving to occupy that post, and that her salary amounts 100.000 Egyptian Pounds annually.
The Aforementioned persons in the investigation had filed a lawsuit against Mogawer and the defendant journalists, and they denied the validity of what was published in the investigation against them. Then, the case was referred to Beheira Criminal Court which ruled with the lack of jurisdiction. Thereupon, the case was referred to Cairo Appeal Prosecution which in turn referred it to Cairo Criminal Court for today’s hearing. Following the hearing of the defense of the Egyptian Center’s lawyer in his capacity as an attorney for the journalist Safaa Al-Bahar who was declared innocent from allegations against her, in addition to the acquittal of Mr. Hussein Mogawer. Moreover, the Court asked to inquire about the death of Mr.Ahmed Hark, may god have mercy upon him.
