New Motion Contesting Privatization & Sale of ” Saan El-Hagaar Agriculture Co.”
Lawyers of ECESR filed today law suit no.( 18211/ Year 62 Judiciary) representing workers of “Saan El-Hagaar Agricultural Co.” against : President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Investment Minister, Board Chairman of the “National Company for Construction”, Head of the “Central Auditing Agency” and the legal representative of “Saan El-Haggar Co. (SAE)“.
ECESR requested the admissibility of the suit and a stay of execution and cancellation of the sale decision( by the company’s board ) of 95% of the company’s shares to the shareholder workers’ union, and cancellation of all subsequent effects, notably; invalidation of all decisions and actions which took place during selling negotiations and execution, restoring all contract parties to pre-contract status, and obliging the administration of all costs.
The petition asserted that the company was established with the resolution no. (899 for the year 1985) by vice PM & Agriculture Minister, the company was supervised by the “Public Sector Agency for Agricultural Development“, by issuance of “Public Sector” law no. (203 for year 1991),the company became a subsidiary of “Holding Company for Agricultural Development“, thusly; subjected to the provisions of above-mentioned law and its regulations.
The Company is located in ” Saan El-Hagaar” in “El-Hussinyia ” providence, Al-Sharqyia governorate, the Company’s activities according to its primary system are:
- Buying, selling and leasing all types of land.
- Cultivating pieces of land and selling them either before or after cultivation.
- Cultivation of land and improving the agricultural efficiency with growing of crops, orchards, vegetables or forage, until the time of sale.
- Breeding livestock and poultry with purpose of producing breeds, red & white meat, milk, eggs and by-products of these activities.
- Production of ready-packaged meat, dairy products and forage.
- Marketing of agricultural and company’s products nationally or internationally.
- Research, planning, management and implementation of agricultural and development projects for anyone interested in the industry.
- Participation in projects that fit the company’s field and engaging in commercial actions that help achieve its objectives
About 95% of the company’s shares (1,196,050 shares) were sold to the shareholder workers’ union for the total price of 18 million LE, including interests on the 15 annual installment of the price which values at 1,2 million LEeach to begin repayment after a two year period from date of contract signing, where each installment is repayed on March 31th of each year starting 2002.
Hend El-Adawy, a Lawyer at ECESR, stated that the meeting minutes of the general assembly of “Holding Co. for Agricultural Development” show beyond any doubt how the public sector structure was being dismantled and how the company assembly’s members had no clue about its value and importance in achieving trophic sufficiency through the vital role that this company and its counterparts played in providing the Egyptian citizen with food products that fit his/her income, and how those members ignored that role in helping thousands of Egyptians to own and cultivate land. The company was a subsidiary of the “Public Sector for Agricultural Development” that cultivated and distributed land to the beneficiaries, and worked as a medium in leasing lands (with a collective area of 45K hectares), the company had an eight-part core plan that integrated its vision.
Adawy stressed that the sale procedures were designed to dispose of the company and sell it in any possible way to pass the Privatization Program, which led the workers and employees of the company to file this law suit to demand its return to the public sector.
