Former Egyptian PM: Mubarak and his regime still control the government

“The Mubarak project is still ongoing. He continues to extend his control over the Egyptian state via the businessmen who hold the keys to economic projects and by virtue of their ability to penetrate into Egyptian society and deceive some Egyptians with money in the same way that the Muslim Brotherhood used to,” Hossam Eissa, former deputy prime minister in the post-coup government said.

Eissa spoke to Egypt’s Al-Shorouk newspaper following the acquittal of Egypt’s deposed President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, interior minister and two aides, on Saturday.

He said rumours that Mubarak’s son Jamal intends to run in the presidential elections in 2018 were not true. “It is highly unlikely that the son of the former president will be able to nominate himself since he is still involved in a criminal case that is still being considered by the courts.”

“The issue is not restricted to the idea of whether Jamal Mubarak may stand for the next presidential elections; the seriousness of the matter is such that it extends beyond that to Mubarak’s men with their financial capabilities and economic strength, including businessmen and so on and so on. They are still able to return once more to the political arena and enter parliament paving the way for the return of the National Party to parliament.”

Eissa, who was a member of the committee in charge of the restitution of embezzled funds internally and externally, said: “The return of the National Party members to parliament would represent a grave danger to the Egyptian state and to the person occupying the post of president, whoever he happens to be, in case they manage to form a government in the future let alone their ability to stand in the way of the president’s decisions so as to serve their own interests.”

Based on his time as deputy prime minister, Eissa said he can confirm that Mubarak’s men are still in control of the cabinet and its economic inclinations especially with regards to public service projects. Therefore, Egyptians continue to be under their influence, he explained.

The former higher education minister added that businessmen are now under the guidance of the ideological circle of the Mubarak regime and the defunct era. These businessmen, he explained, consider the acquittal to be the kiss of life that will revive the dissolved National Party and bring him back to political life once again.