[Ghostwheel]

And the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court didn't know about this before the election?

Egypt Election’s Loser Leaves Country Facing Corruption Investigation Former Air Marshal Collects Family, Flees to UAE by Jason Ditz, June 26, 2012 Days after coming just a hair’s breadth from being elected the president of Egypt, Air Marshal Ahmed Shafiq is now under investigation for corruption during his term as Aviation Minister and has fled the country with his immediate family. Shafiq, who has described already jailed former dictator Hosni Mubarak as a role model, flew to the United Arab Emirates almost immediately after the announcement of the investigation, along with his daughters and several grandchildren. The UAE has offered refuge for other former Mubarak regime officials, including Omar Suleiman. The probe will look into allegations Shafiq used his position to facilitate the sale of government-owned land to Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal at an eighth of their market value. Shafiq’s campaign downplayed the significance of his hasty retreat from the country, saying he had merely “gone on vacation” and would return after a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Shafiq had held numerous positions in the regime, including briefly serving as Egypt’s last prime minister, being appointed to the position by Mubarak just days before the revolution forced his ouster. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. .

The thing about what's going on in Egypt right now is you can come up with the most outlandish conspiracy theory and several days later it seems tame.

My take on things like this is that elites like Shafiq only tend to go down when other elites take them out. In other words, a behind the scenes power struggle among elites. Along these lines, I'm going to guess that certain powers wanted Marshal Shafiq to win and then be arrested on corruption charges, leaving the military junta in complete control?

Still, this was a really high-ranking officer. Why would the military or the regime-appointed judiciary hit him with this now?

[Daoist]

Thanks for all the updates on the situation there - for some reason, this stuff isn't making it into my news scans.

[larkin]

Originally Posted by Ghostwheel To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

My take on things like this is that elites like Shafiq only tend to go down when other elites take them out. In other words, a behind the scenes power struggle among elites. Along these lines, I'm going to guess that certain powers wanted Marshal Shafiq to win and then be arrested on corruption charges, leaving the military junta in complete control? [...] Still, this was a really high-ranking officer. Why would the military or the regime-appointed judiciary hit him with this now?

Not sure who you think is on what side, but to be clear - Egypt had elections, they elected Mursi, Mursi is a "Muslim Brotherhood insider." In other words, not related to the military or Mubarak's regime. Protested against the military and Mubarak's regime. Hated the military and Mubarak's regime. Now the Brotherhood is prosecuting its political enemies - so, anyone related to Mubarak's regime that they can.

The SCAF - representing the military, longtime allies of Mubarak, and the provisional leaders of Egypt until these elections - wrote a constitution that outlined very limited powers for Egypt's President. Which Morsi, Tahir Square protesters, and most election observers obviously opposed. But SCAF is not in complete control.
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