CAIRO -

The resignation of Major General Mustafa Hadhoud from his position as Vice President of the Egyptian club Zamalek, against the background of the crisis known as the medal theft scandal, opened the door to talk about the controversial resignations in Egypt in recent years.

The resignation of Hudhoud, who was a senior officer in the army and worked as deputy chief of military intelligence, was not the first in this context, as the reasons for the resignations or dismissals were numerous, including: corruption, slips of the tongue or negligence, and the names were many to include ministers and senior officials.

Among the most prominent resignations and dismissals that Egypt has witnessed in recent years are the resignations of Justice Ministers Mahfouz Saber and Ahmed Al-Zind, Minister of Agriculture Salah Hilal, Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi, Minister of State for Information Osama Heikal, Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez, and Governor of Alexandria Hani El-Mesiri.

Medal scandal

Hodhoud submitted his resignation from the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zamalek Club, one of the largest Egyptian clubs, during an emergency meeting held on Saturday, April 9, after the crisis known as the “medal distribution scandal”, where the cameras spotted him as he put a silver medal in his pocket while distributing prizes. Handball Cup competition after the final match that witnessed Sporting's victory over Zamalek.

Hodhoud, the former deputy head of Military Intelligence, tried to defend himself, saying that he did not steal the medal, and that it was just a silver medal, supposedly belonging to a member of the Zamalek team, and that he took it after the approval of the President of the Handball Federation.

But Hodhoud's justifications did not succeed in quelling the anger and the mounting criticism on social media, which prompted him to submit his resignation, but what is interesting is that the president of Zamalek Club, Mortada Mansour, soon decided to appoint Hodhoud as a security advisor to the club.

Corruption and persecution

Accusations of corruption have brought down prominent officials in the Egyptian government during the previous years, most notably in September 2015, when then-Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab announced the acceptance of the resignation of Minister of Agriculture Salah Hilal because of his involvement in a corruption case.

The Administrative Control arrested Hilal after submitting his resignation and referred to trial, until in 2016 a final sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of one million pounds (one dollar equals 18.5 pounds) was issued against him.

In August 2016, the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Khaled Hanafy, submitted a controversial resignation from his position against the background of the results of the investigations of the parliamentary fact-finding committee at the time, into the corruption of wheat silos.

However, on January 2, 2018, the Public Prosecution approved the decision of the Supreme Public Funds Prosecution, to administratively preserve the investigations against the minister due to the lack of evidence in a way that represented a waste of public money, according to an official statement.

And the echoes of the "sick leave" of the Egyptian Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, have been causing widespread controversy since October of last year.

The length of the leave raises repeated speculations about whether it was a resignation or dismissal after a number of Ministry of Health officials were ousted in a corruption case that is still subject to judicial accountability.

The Egyptian Public Prosecution had referred 4 defendants to criminal trial - including the husband of the former minister - in a case of bribery and the use of influence to obtain benefits from officials in the Ministry of Health, according to official data.

private conditions

On April 25 of last year, the Minister of State for Information, Osama Haikal, announced his resignation from his position, due to what he called special circumstances that he did not clarify.

The resignation was preceded by a widespread attack by media professionals and journalists in state institutions against the Minister of State for Information, who, in turn, tried in October 2020 to invite them to discuss the criticisms leveled against him.

Heikal's critics relied on his statement that "young people under the age of 35 in Egypt do not read newspapers or watch television," which appeared to be a disparagement from them, as they said, which Heikal considered unjustified at the time, stressing that there was a campaign against him.

The campaign culminated in the leaking of previous calls to the minister on the main program on Egyptian television.

Slip of the tongue

Senior officials in the Egyptian Ministry of Justice were dismissed in 2015 and 2016, respectively, due to what was said at the time as a "slip of the tongue."

In mid-May 2015, the Egyptian Minister of Justice, Mahfouz Saber, submitted his resignation, after controversial statements that affected the poor, in which he said, "The son of a janitor cannot become a judge."

In March 2016, former Minister of Justice Ahmed Al-Zind joined his predecessor, Mahfouz Saber.

And former Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail decided to dismiss Al-Zind from his position after statements he made at the time, which were considered an insult to the Prophet of Islam Muhammad - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him. .

Al-Zind, who was famous for his controversial statements and for interfering in areas of politics that judges used to distance themselves from, then stated in a television interview that this talk about the Prophet was just a “slip of the tongue,” but an apology did not satisfy him, as the anger was widespread this time.

The matter came to calling on activists to prosecute him for using the hashtag "Prosecute Al-Zind" on the Twitter site, in conjunction with the declared refusal of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, for the fall of Al-Zind.

accusations of negligence

In October 2015, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Hisham Ramez, submitted his resignation from his position, and despite his submission more than once, an official statement was issued at the time, which resolved the issue by accepting the presidency to resign, and appointing the head of the National Bank of Egypt, Tariq Amer, in his place.

The resignation came after harsh criticism of Ramez in his last months accusing him of negligence, as the Egyptian pound came under pressure, and foreign exchange reserves fell, from $36 billion in 2011, to 16.3 billion in September 2015, barely enough to cover 3 months of imports, according to reports. local.

The famous broadcaster, Lamis Al-Hadidi, defended Hisham Ramez after his resignation, and said that some are talking about decreasing the price of the Egyptian pound "floating" without the knowledge of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, which angered him. with the presidency.

The April 6 Movement, in a tweet at the time on its official account on Twitter, considered Hisham Ramez’s resignation as evidence of “the escalation of differences with the government due to economic and monetary policies and the dollar crisis,” criticizing the continuation of what it described as corruption.

In the same vein, and in the same month of 2015, the Governor of Alexandria, Hani El-Mesiri, submitted his resignation after accusations of negligence, after the streets were flooded with rainwater and sewage, on the first day of winter in the second capital of the country.

The Egyptian Prime Minister at the time, Sherif Ismail, announced the acceptance of El-Messiri's resignation, after the crisis in Alexandria worsened.