Cairo – Akram Ali
The Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation, Fayza Aboul Naga, appologised for testifying before the Cairo Criminal Court in a case of foreign funding, headed by Judge Makram Awad and consultants Sobhi el-Laban and Hani Abdel-Halim. Aboul Naga uncovered a case in which 43 Egyptians and foreigners are accused of receiving funds from some countries amounting 60 million dollars, through 68 human rights organisations and NGOs working in Egypt without license. Aboul Naga appologised for testifying as she was busy working in the cabinet. The Court confirmed that Aboul-Naga submitted an apology to the Court for her inability to attend a hearing to testify on Wednesday. Consultants Ashraf Ashmawi and Sameh Abu Zeid are judges of foreign funding investigations. The case involves 43 suspects who were referred to the criminal court, including 19 Americans, 5 Serbs, 2 Germans, 3 Arabs, and 14 Egyptians charged with receiving foreign funding from several countries in violation of the law and without having a licenses to practice such activities in Egypt, and using that money in prohibited activities that violate the sovereignty of the Egyptian state.