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Mubarak-era tycoon barred from Egyptian polls

September 16, 2015 at 3:51 pm

Egypt’s electoral committee has excluded a steel tycoon close to former President Hosni Mubarak from contesting next month’s parliamentary polls.

Ahmed Ezz was excluded from the initial list of approved candidates for the elections, which will be held in two stages starting in October, the commission said.

According to a source in the panel, Ezz had been excluded for opening an “inaccurate bank account despite an order by the prosecution to freeze his assets.”

This is the second time Ezz has been excluded from the polls. He previously applied to run for a seat in parliament in February, before the elections were postponed based on a court order.

A steel industry mogul, Ezz was one of the most infamous symbols of the Mubarak regime, which was toppled following a popular uprising in 2011.

He was known for having close links with Mubarak’s younger son, Gamal, who was said to have been groomed for the Egyptian presidency as a successor to his octogenarian father.

Ezz was also a member of the influential policy bureau of Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party, whose secretary was Gamal Mubarak.

He was sentenced to jail on several corruption-related charges.

However, last year, the steel industry baron was released after he was bailed out for a sum of 100 million Egyptian pounds ($14.3 million) – the largest in Egyptian judicial history.