"Just when you think the Conservatives have plumbed the depths of sleaze and scandal we have this: a billionaire who was a part of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime"
The Tories have a new senior treasurer. A billionaire Egyptian businessman, with a net-worth reported to be in the region of $2.5bn, who served as a Transport minister under the brutal regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Mohamed Mansour’s announcement was made by Rishi Sunak at a reception with a group of donors, with the Middle East Eye reporting an initial reluctance by the party to confirm his appointment officially.
Mansour’s company Unatrac has donated more than £600,000 to the Tory party. He was also last year given a role on the government’s advisory investment council as founder of his family-owned investment firm Man Capital.
The Tories clearly have no issue with appointing someone who served in the regime of a brutal dictator, to a senior post within their party. Amnesty International have reported a ‘litany of abuses’ which were committed during Mubarak’s 30 year rule, including torture, a crackdown on free-speech and any political opposition and widespread human rights abuses.
Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty International previously said of Mubarak’s rule: “The signature policies of Hosni Mubarak’s rule – mass torture and arbitrary detention – remain a daily reality in Egypt. Mubarak was never held to account for the litany of abuses he oversaw.
“Hosni Mubarak’s legacy lives on through the tools of repression he created, most visibly in the unaccountable security services that maintain an iron grip on the country nine years after his fall.”
Amnesty also stated: “At least 840 people were killed and 6,000 injured during 18 days of protest that finally toppled Mubarak. In addition, victims of prolonged arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment during his 30 years of rule have yet to see any semblance of truth, justice or reparation.”
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds criticised the appointment. She said: “Just when you think the Conservatives have plumbed the depths of sleaze and scandal we have this: a billionaire who was a part of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime being put in charge of drumming up donations, to plug the gap left by those deserting this chaotic and stagnant government,” she said.
“Rishi Sunak’s promise of honesty, integrity and accountability is officially dead in the water. Labour’s independent integrity and ethics commission will clean up politics and restore trust in public office.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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