Prosecution to investigate 737 MB leaders for ‘funding terrorism’

The prosecution is investigating a lawsuit against 737 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on allegations of “funding terrorism,” the privately owned Al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday.

The lawsuit was filed by a Cabinet-affiliated committee tasked with identifying, confiscating and managing the financial assets of the ousted Islamist organization, following a court ruling in September banning it and freezing its funds.

The complaint was based on the committee’s previous investigations into the alleged financing of terrorist activities by Brotherhood leaders.

The crackdown started as early as December 2013, when a court ruling designated the group a terrorist organization, after which the Ministry of Social Solidarity suspended the activities of over a 1,000 NGOs allegedly run by the Brotherhood. Following this, a series of other allegations were investigated relating to the financial assets of various Brotherhood leaders.

In May, the committee froze the assets of 30 Brotherhood leaders without mentioning their names, but stating that they included 12 NGOs and five media and contracting companies.

In June, the committee also closed down two main supermarkets chains allegedly owned and operated by the Brotherhood: Zad — owned by the group’s chief financier Khairat al-Shater — and Seoudi, owned by Saudi businessman Abdel Rahman al-Seoudi.

The committee then reopened Seoudi stores, announcing the appointment of state employees to operate confiscated assets, so as not to jeopardize the future of workers depending on the outlets for a living.

Committee spokesperson Ezzat Khamis told Al-Watan that the prosecution is the only entity entitled to investigate the lawsuit, with the right to refer Brotherhood leaders to the Criminal Court or drop the case.

But a court ruling by the Administrative Court in late June to un-freeze the assets of 20 Brotherhood leaders might bring the work of the committee into question.

The ruling stipulated that the freezing should only be applied following a court ruling by the Criminal Court, not through an administrative decision by the government. But Khamis said that the ruling only applies to 20 leaders out of the 737 names in the lawsuit. He also asserted that the committee is working on appealing the court ruling.