Luxor4u

A Mubarak Roundup – Maybe.

A very odd press report on some Cairo arrests.

“Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, with seven other men, are accused of violating stock market and central bank rules to make unlawful profits through dealing in shares of Al Watany Bank of Egypt.”

“Three other men including Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal, current and former board members respectively at Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes, were also arrested, a judicial source said.” These 2 are the dirtiest of the dirty.

Maybe money is short and the government needs to extract some settlements for the President’s special, non-Parliamentary, non-Audited Wild West fund./parallel Budget https://www.todayonline.com/world/egypt ... nipulation

There are still those overseas bank accounts and not only for this small group of named persons - and these have all been waiting the Government of Egypt to claim them.

Al Pravda runs a slightly different story about a different fraud regarding a different bank but some of the same people – the National Bank- but maybe their journalists had difficulty reading the hand written instructions from the Major in Military Security who tells them what to write. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent ... of-fo.aspx

This unresolved case has been around for a few years. Maybe they've now got enough evidence to put the gruesome twosome away.....or more likely extract oodles of dosh.

I can't see many shedding a tear for their plight

Like I said in another post somewhere 'what's new ? in scamming banks Oh! and his Countries poor...
Being honest, regarding that 'tea-leaf Mo good riddance...
Just how much money is enough for a greedy man...?.....
Ps: Sometimes things just have to get worse before they get better....Who said that ?

From the prostitutes on the corniche, looking for an easy mark to the very top Gamal and Alaa get rich by stealing. Egyptians don't seem to have any initiative. One opens a phone shop does well and everyone jumps on the band wagon. A paint shop "oh we will do that too!" Who is there that produces the wealth the country so badly needs, where are the entrepreneurs those with a vision. Unlike MT I don't think all Egyptians are "thick" surely some must want to succeed by building their own little empire fairly and honestly.

carrie wrote:From the prostitutes on the corniche, looking for an easy mark to the very top Gamal and Alaa get rich by stealing. Egyptians don't seem to have any initiative. One opens a phone shop does well and everyone jumps on the band wagon. A paint shop "oh we will do that too!" Who is there that produces the wealth the country so badly needs, where are the entrepreneurs those with a vision. Unlike MT I don't think all Egyptians are "thick" surely some must want to succeed by building their own little empire fairly and honestly.

I'm sure some do...and are capable Carrie.

The main problem is that the "system" is so slanted against them. It's not what you know...it's who you know. The "wasta" notion is so ingrained that many capable Egyptians don't even try...or take the easier route via corruption and assorted illegalities.

Even with a modicum of help, there is then the labyrinthine bureaucracy (riddled with corruption) to negotiate. And, further down the line, a judicial system which will drive you to despair.

Little wonder that some young Egyptians sell their souls - and bodies - for a visa and passage to the West

Found something positive in Upper Egypt which might make carrie feel a little bit more optimistic.

As short as I can. The one use syringe/can't be used a second time has been around for 18 years, invented by a UK rich boy/sailor (Koska - no citizenship and should be Brexited with all the other plumbing Poles) with drive and values and avoids, at very low cost, transmission of, say, HepC and AIDS from one patient to another..

With the worst rate HepC in the world and massive reinfection, possibly 200,000 a year, from medical negligence and foolishness you would expect Egypt would be interested - and then you would be disappointed.

It is made from the same materials and could be used in the same way as a normal syringe’. It also cuts the risk of needle stick infections to medical workers – so you think a good government would want to protect their staff. India got into it 10 years ago and re-use was made illegal there. Koshka travelled to India 43 times to help it and to 64 developing countries but was never invited to Egypt. https://www.havaslynx.com/marc-koska-th ... ion-lives/

Egyptian Ministry of Death/Health promises were made to the WHO in June 2015 to ‘mobilising both its local manufacturing industry to start making the smart syringes, and launching public information campaigns later this month.’ Maybe nothing happened in June or later. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... s-of-lives.

What rot – it was always been done but not by the Ministry. Its likely that Egypt’s interest in this is stimulated by a more mercantile interest – the copyright ran out last year so they won’t now have to pay copyright royalties and this is not the first time they have behaved very oddly on medical copyright whilst people die.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-deve ... ion-a-year

The Minister is talking bull. Egypt has been manufacturing these syringes, with the only copyright approval to do so in the Middle East, in Upper Egypt since 2011 by an interesting company that sounds so good it can’t be Egyptian company. Called Med el Dawlia ICO or ICO it’s a family owned company by the Khalil family with its factory, in their own words:

‘According to governmental statistics, Elzaraby “the plant location” (near Asyut) is the poorest village in Egypt with the highest unemployment rates. Operating in Elzaraby will contribute economically and socially to the surrounding environment and enhance the lives of people, employ 430 people, export, produce 600 million syringes a year, say they are committed to training (a treasonable crime in Egypt) have a clear set of priorities, a simple organizational structure and include the names of middle level staff on their org chart.

Its almost an Upper Egypt McKinsey case study. If they are half as good as they appear I’m surprised the Ministry of Health hasn’t tried to send them broke. We should wait because the Army has made it clear its going to become the (tax free and with free conscript staff) behemoth in medical products (including syringes and Avian flu vaccine) so Asyut call expect a call in the night with a one off purchase offer - with a gun. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/featur ... stry-.html

I may be wrong about this firm but my checking gives me hope and I congratulate them.

I wonder whether firms like this get government support - the Governor, the bank, the Ministry of Health. What do you think? As far as I am aware tens of millions are spent each year promoting tourism (77,000 domestic staff and I mean domestic) in the west/bookings in Egyptian hotels owned by connected persons but there is not a single dollar spent in those scores of embassies and consulates in helping/marketing/developing marketing strategies for Egyptian companies export.

Pardon my cynicism but the system that is corrupt and lazy will take small numbers of innovative firms and rip them apart. They are a threat to the lazy, stupid idiots - or a cheap takeover target to then be run into the ground.

"With the worst rate HepC in the world and massive reinfection, possibly 200,000 a year, from medical negligence and foolishness you would expect Egypt would be interested - and then you would be disappointed."

https://egyptianstreets.com/2018/09/13/ ... m=referral

Thanks.

50 million tests in 210 days means 238,000 per day. The tests take a lab to show positive or negative or in this case hundreds of specialist labs and refrigerated transportation there. The numbers of testing machines will be stupendous. Just the IT angles of it defy logic. Take another example. How many nurses would you need full time to do these tests and how good are the Egyptian ones? How could they be diverted from normal work. How many lab technicians to do the tests? Why test 50 when you know the infected are 14 million max, many have been tested and the symptoms are well known as are their likely domicile and class. You don't need to throw the net out over 50 million its mainly in the Delta and Upper Egypt and in the lower classes in Cairo.

Because it can be transmitted from a pregnant mum to her child in the womb will they give priority to women of child bearing age?

These people have real difficulty in setting priorities/doing a risk assessment to act strategically. All they want is a German Big Bertha - rather than a few hundred snipers.



When tested where is the treatment coming from and which one or which combination and who is paying for/medically delivering this big hit and the follow up tests to check it worked..

Looks, sounds and smells like another Sisi Special, Suez Canal that cost 200% of budget and has flat revenues, the 1.5 million feddans which is going no where, the 2 million homes for poor people that never happened, the New Administrative Capital that no one needs and will bankrupt the country, borrowing until he can't any more (two recent debt raisings failed which is very odd), an Ethiopian dam he can't stop and a civil war in Libya where he backed the wrong side, the dead tourist industry, the failure of overseas companies to invest, the non-performance of exports after the currency halved etc.

He never runs out of new schemes as soon as the old failed ones are rubbed off the blackboard of the Egyptian mind. I suspect its a publicity stunt because he's in a bit of a hole.

I am not saying they are thick Carrie, they just seem to lack intelligence, (Look even at Government officials and their statements) To set up a decent business you need a good business plan, one that sets out your main competition, one that projects growth, and one that shows confidence looking forward. Like you say they just jump on bandwagons. When you bake a cake its whole, but when people start taking slices out of that cake it gets smaller, if you relate that to business in Egypt you find that, sooner or later the starter business get so small its not worth carrying on. They seem to not realise that the things they do are not viable, call that thick then you may do, call it stupid, you may do, call it lifts not reaching the top floor too, no matter what I see no point in being stood around living in hope like many seem to do.

This may all stem from the fact they set up business's with a distinct lack of capitol, and a lack of forward thinking, you can not do such a thing on a whim! I noticed that quite a few English run business's became swamped by people hat thought they could do the same but lacked forward thinking.

Regarding Mubarak, look back Egypt was a far better place when he was there leading than it is now. OK people after him have drained cash from the Country, but the need for cash now is doing the Country no good whatsoever, by piling in to get this cash is creating havoc, price increases that are really unacceptable and poverty.

Thick to me is a lump of 2x2 wood!!!

MT's interjection reminds me that I omitted to mention one significant impediment to Egyptians setting up viable businesses of their own...particularly in places like Luxor'

Why bother.....when there's a continuous stream of naive tourists who are easily parted from their dosh for cheap Chinese-made souvenirs or exorbitantly priced caleche rides.

Then again, you can hit the jackpot if you find some gullible hayseed who, having holidayed here a few times, comes to settle down, buy a villa and generally set themselves up as a latter day "Sanders of the River" dispensing largesse and advice to the natives.

Maybe the disappearance of the tourists and ex-pats will have long term benefits and stimulate entrepreneurship amongst the locals!

I think you hit the nail on the head Newcastle with your previous post, if entrepreneurship is not encouraged if you do need to know the "right " people to get on then it's very difficult to maintain a spirit of optimism.

Sounds like the Military is taking over entrepreneurial enterpises!! Judging by the remarks on the new vegetable shop

Gamal and Alaa MubarakReuters
An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release from detention of former president Hosni Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, reported The Associated Press.

The decision overturned a ruling by another court whose judge surprisingly told police to arrest them and send them to prison.

The judge in the September 15 hearing ordered the detention of the two sons of the former president before adjourning the hearings until October 20. The surprise decision by Judge Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh followed his rejection of a technical report that apparently cleared the pair of any wrongdoing, according to AP.

Thursday's ruling to release the Mubarak sons on a bail of 100,000 pounds ($5,600) each came just hours after an appeals court accepted a motion moved by their defense lawyers to remove the judge who ordered their detention.
Gamal and Alaa MubarakReuters
An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release from detention of former president Hosni Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, reported The Associated Press.

The decision overturned a ruling by another court whose judge surprisingly told police to arrest them and send them to prison.

The judge in the September 15 hearing ordered the detention of the two sons of the former president before adjourning the hearings until October 20. The surprise decision by Judge Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh followed his rejection of a technical report that apparently cleared the pair of any wrongdoing, according to AP.

Thursday's ruling to release the Mubarak sons on a bail of 100,000 pounds ($5,600) each came just hours after an appeals court accepted a motion moved by their defense lawyers to remove the judge who ordered their detention.

Gamal and Alaa MubarakReuters
An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release from detention of former president Hosni Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, reported The Associated Press.

The decision overturned a ruling by another court whose judge surprisingly told police to arrest them and send them to prison.

The judge in the September 15 hearing ordered the detention of the two sons of the former president before adjourning the hearings until October 20. The surprise decision by Judge Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh followed his rejection of a technical report that apparently cleared the pair of any wrongdoing, according to AP.

Thursday's ruling to release the Mubarak sons on a bail of 100,000 pounds ($5,600) each came just hours after an appeals court accepted a motion moved by their defense lawyers to remove the judge who ordered their detention.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/252260

Well.....that didn't last long!

Removing the judge who had the temerity to jail the pair speaks volumes for the state of judicial independence.