-Ezz: We didn't do enough to absorb the youth in the NDP. The NDP party is very popular in rural Egypt, amongst the farmers especially.
-The most important leaders from the NDP (come from rural Egypt), & I was proud of that before I left the NDP
-We didn't do enough to absorb intelligent youth, I don't want to use the word failed to but we didn't put so much of an effort.
-We should have absorbed this youth, who have dreams & are active, who come from the middle class. This was the failure.
-We were in touch with the street. The future will judge us. Our plans were about how to deal with the daily lives of people.
-This great push (the revolution) that happened recently, it was welcomed by the whole of Egypt actually & went further beyond our plans
-I must salute the youth of Meydan Tahrir. I didn't have a chance to meet the leaders there. I wish to meet them at any second.
-I really wish I can meet (the leaders of Meydan Tahrir) so I can listen to them. What are their ideas? How do they see the future?
-What are the wrongs they (Meydan Tahrir leaders) saw? I would apologise if there were any mistakes, of course.
-It is very difficult for any politician to assess the mistakes. We will let the next few months assess (the situation)
-I can't say that our plans excluded the man on the street, or that our agenda excluded them. The challenges were very great.
-Some people may call it a revolution, some may call is an intifada. But there are people whose ideas were greater than ours
-These people wanted the change now, and immediately. I can say this is a good thing. I can't say it is a bad thing.
-I didn't expect it. They saw a further point. I didn't expect that they would. Our plans were "gradualism" it may be wrong.
-I see that there is a rush to adjust the constitution. This does not concern me, I am a private citizen now.
-I always wanted to change article 77. It had to be changed, although 76 should also be changed.
-I am telling you the truth now, you must believe me, we had no plan to allow "Independents" in the parliament.
-The idea was that the President would come from a specific party. It may be wrong, it obviously was wrong.
-Obviously Egyptians didn't agree with us. Article 76 only allowed persons from a party to become president
-It's very clear that a society cannot have elections without judges.
-I don't have any political plans. But I have deep links with my political circle. My future in Egypt is to leave slowly the politics
-I hope I don't become a scape goat. I stopped contacting some friends, I don't like to contact people, make them uncomfortable
-I am not in touch with the current leadership, they have a lot of work now
-Am I scared for my life? I believe in God. But I received death threats. I got them via phone and non telephone
-I can't say I am sorry for anything I did
-(Regarding monopolistic charges) Ezz: There is a lot of talk, over 12 years, of my becoming an investor in Dakheela Steel in 1999
-We entered Dakheela in 1999 at an important time, the company was suffering, marketing & sales wise. It needed a capital injection.
-All the shareholders of Dakheela refused to pump cash into the company, it was owned by Public Funds & by International organizations
-Dakheela Steel has Japanese & German investors & the World Bank but the management was looking for a strategic investor
-The company's management asked us to become investors with official backing, we invested after everyone else refused to invest
-We decided to invest in the company in cash & bought out all the foreign investors, we did not buy any public (Egyptian) shares
-Until today the public shareholding level is maintained & on the board level as well. We did not touch a single public (Egyptian) share
-What is important in this story is what happened to the public funds? The stock value of the company's shares in 1999/2000 was EGP 70
-Public Funds owns Six million shares, now at the last closing price the stock value is over EGP700. We safeguarded public money.
-The company paid dividends as well. We increased the public wealth. This wasn't a privatisation. It is easy to accuse me.
-There's no law in the world that denies a company the right to have any share in the market. Laws only regulate monopolistic activities
-Egyptian law states that a company can't control over 25% of the market. But the authorities investigated my firm from 2006..
-The results of this investigation was made public & proved that this company does not even carry one single monopolistic activity.
-It proved that this company did not make one mistake. This is not the result of a company investigation, it was all official.
-Al Arabiya's Randa Abu Al Azm tells Ahmed Ezz "Of course the investigation results were in your favour, you had a high public position" ...
-Ezz: How do I reply to this? The proof is that our share in the market was going down, from 68% at its peak to 44% today
-I was surprised by the ban on my traveling but I respect it. It wasn't on me only, there were others, I have nothing to hide.
-I have nothing to fear but God. Randa Abu Al Azm asks him: Tell me about your fortune is it really EGP60 Billion?
-All these numbers are not real. All my fortune is in the market, it is paper money
-I don't sell these shares, they go up & go down, they can up up to 1500 then down to 100, it will be an ad hoc number people quote
-There are McCarthy-like trials in Egypt. They are not beneficial. I hope they don't last.
-If someone was proven to have stolen that is a different story. I have never left Egypt (during the revolution) I will not leave.
-Any Egyptian today is concerned & wants the current situation to end, to have a safe path for our dreams to come true
-My future is less important than the country. It is not the first time I get accused, I am not afraid.
-I am concerned about Egypt. I watch TV most of the day, but from afar. I am no longer part of it, I took a decision to resign.
-The November 2010 parliamentary elections were organised by the government not by the NDP
-It will be difficult to exclude the NDP from the coming period
-The interview which was recorded ended, Al Arabiya invited people to comment on it, then Ahmed Ezz called in Live to comment.
-Ezz live: This discussion you had was one-sided. I want to reply to the allegations & the heated argument that just happened.
-They mention my articles in Al Ahram, say that I was boasting in them. But in the last article I say the elections had mistakes
-I told the higher elections committee to follow up. But I never boasted. I will not reply to these insults.
-Is this democracy? Is this the way that people talk now? You accused me of saying things I never did about constitutional reform
-I admitted that certain articles were not appropriate. We compared them with some other constitutions as well.
-You gave others time to accuse me. Let me speak. I did not blame others like your guests accused me of.
-I tackled the Dakheela accusations that were made in the media not in the Courts, which never happened. The courts are sacred.
-The respected Talaat Sadat is accusing my father of having been pushed out of the military. My father left the military in 1959.
-My father left voluntarily, started his own business until the 1970's & 80's the company I was working for with my dad was amongst
-.. the largest in steel trading activities, even before I went into industrial manufacturing of steel myself.
-I don't want it to seem as though I am acting above the revolution that just happened. (anchor tells him no more time, hangs up)
-Al Arabiya guest says: Look, Mr Ezz monopolised the entire discussion like he monopolised political life in Egypt.
Re: Rock the Casbah: Arab-World Revolutions Watch Thread
Originally Posted by Herodadotus
Oh, I meant who's in power, but I missed that, too.
