Leaked recordings reveal Al-Badawi's prior knowledge of 2012 massacres

It now seems likely that orders were issued by Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi himself to get rid of businessman and leader of Al-Wafd Party, Al-Sayyid Al-Badawi, who owns Al-Hayat TV Channel network. This is just one part of the fierce war raging within the Egyptian regime.

During the past few days, Al-Badawi, who is regarded as one of the major partners in the 2013 coup, received several legal and political blows that set off a conflict within Al-Wafd. A group within the party known as “Al-Wafd Reform Current” is waging a vicious campaign to bring down the party leader to the extent that they have called for a protest next Friday in front of the party headquarters to denounce Al-Badawi’s policies and call for a vote of no confidence in him.

The blows continued, culminating in him being reported to the police for embezzlement, defrauding banks and squandering the wealth of his partners in a pharmaceutical company he owns, as well as other charges such as assault, abuse and libel.

All of this notwithstanding, the strongest of the blows received by Al-Badawi has been the leaking of recordings by Abd Al-Rahim Ali, a TV anchor close to the security agencies in Egypt, via his own programme called The Black Box. The leaks broadcast on Monday and Tuesday reveal the ugly face of Al-Badawi and his opportunism from the Mubarak era until after the January 2011 revolution.

The recordings reveal that everything that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has been subjected to in the wake of the revolution, including the killings, had been planned for many years by the Egyptian security agencies with the full knowledge and participation of Al-Badawi. They also reveal how businessmen used their satellite channels in order to settle scores with their political opponents by means of blemishing their reputation.

In the first leaked recording, Al-Sayyid Al-Badawi concurs with Muhammad Abd Al-Mit’al, Head of Al-Hayat TV Channel, over cutting Naguib Swiris down to size by means of a deceptive initiative proposed by Al-Badawi so as to prevent him from criticising Al-Wafd Party and Al-Badawi himself in the programmes on TV channels owned by the Coptic businessman Swiris.

In the second leak, Al-Badawi insults the Supreme Military Council that ruled Egypt for a year and a half after the 2011 revolution under the command of Marshal Hassan Tantawi for failing to invite Al-Wafd to one of the dialogue sessions arranged for the national forces. Upon learning that the Muslim Brotherhood, Swiris and Hamdin Sabbahi were all invited to the sessions, Al-Badawi threatened to attack the Supreme Military Council: “By Allah, I shall tear apart the sons of bitches and beat them with my shoe,” he is heard saying.

It sounds as if Al-Badawi was communicating with journalist Osama Haykal, who went on to become minister of information, and journalist Suleiman Gouda, and ordering them to launch a media campaign against the army for ignoring Al-Wafd Party.

In the third recording, which was made prior to the presidential elections won by President Mohamed Morsi, Al-Badawi talks with someone who complains to him about the frequent appearances of Brotherhood members on Al-Hayat TV. Al-Badawi seeks to justify this by the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood was a major political power in Egypt whose support he sought to secure for his bid to win the presidential elections; the movement was the only power in Egypt able to make that happen. This was before the Brotherhood changed its position and decided to nominate its own candidate for the presidential elections.

The other person who responds seems to be a senior security figure in the establishment, as he was addressing Al-Wafd’s leader by his first name: “Oh Sayyid. The upcoming period will be a dark one for the Brotherhood. Armed militias will slaughter them in their own houses. Egypt will be full of orchestrated terrorism to retaliate against the Brotherhood and seek revenge from the revolution that brought down the security apparatus.”

It is not known with certainty who was behind these leaks. However, journalist Abd Al-Rahim Ali, who is broadcasting them, is well known for his closeness to the security agencies They have supplied him over the past few months with audio recordings of a number of public figures and political activists with the aim of tarnishing their reputations.

Businessman Karam Kurdi and another businessman, who happens to be a national of the United Arab Emirates, submitted a complaint against Al-Badawi accusing him of assaulting them during a meeting of Sigma Pharmaceutical Company in which they are, together with Al-Badawi, shareholders. The Public Prosecutor summoned Al-Badawi and questioned him with regard to charges made against him to the effect that he seized funds from the company and transferred them to Al-Hayat TV.

In the meantime, the leader of Al-Wafd Party claimed that he is being subjected to political and financial blackmail at the present time. He accused a group of stakeholders of targeting him with the aim of silencing him and intimidating him so as to confine himself within his home.

In statements he made on Tuesday, Al-Badawi insisted that he will not be intimidated: “I shall not renounce politics or Al-Wafd Party, despite those who are trying to threaten me.” He emphasised that he insists on running for the leadership of the party and said he intends to lead it through the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Al-Sayyid Al-Badawi demanded that the Public Prosecutor should take legal action against the violation he was subjected to in terms of eavesdropping on his private telephone calls and broadcasting them in the media, an action that contravenes the law and the constitution. He also appealed to Al-Sisi to take decisive action against those who “stir up chaos” and hinder the progress of the state, emphasising that he will remain a supporter of the coup leaders, whom he would never attack.