CAIRO: An Egyptian NGO is calling for an investigation into a car accident that killed Mamdouh El-Saqqa, a judge who ruled against the government in the Madinaty land sale case.
El-Saqqa was vice president of the State Council and head of the contracts department in the Administrative Court.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) says that he issued “many important and historic verdicts the most well known of which is the verdict issued in [the Madinaty case]”.
On June 22, 2010 the Administrative Court ruled as invalid a contract of sale between the government and Talaat Mostafa Group (TMG) in which the latter bought 20,000 square kilometers of land to build the Madinaty project.
The judgment is currently being appealed.
ECESR says in a statement issued on Monday that El-Saqqa was killed in a car crash on Wady El-Natroun Road. His wife and children were reportedly seriously injured in the accident.
Khaled Ali, ECESR’s director, emphasized to Daily News Egypt that ECESR “is not suggesting that there was foul play involved.”
“We don’t know whether or not there was foul play. But El-Saqqa was an important member of the judiciary and because of his status an investigation should be carried out,” Ali said.
