Egypt

CBC chairman to sue president over tax evasion claims

Businessman Mohamed al-Amin, chairman of the privately-owned CBC satellite channels, said he will pursue legal action against President Mohamed Morsy after the Egyptian leader accused him of tax evasion in his speech on Wednesday.

In a phone-in with a talk show on CBC, al-Amin said "the content of Morsy's speech is not suitable for a president and constitutes an incitement to kill Mohamed al-Amin."

Amin added that he was notified of the decision banning him from travel, but was not told what allegations he faced. "I am in Egypt and will never leave it," he said.

In his speech on Wednesday, Morsy had said: "There are honest businessmen in Egypt and there are [on the other hand] Mohamed al-Amin, who owes taxes and whose channel harasses us and Ahmed Bahgat who owes banks LE3 billion and whose channel also harasses us. Nobody will escape justice."

Islamists have repeatedly accused Egypt's privately-owned media of smearing the regime and inciting civil disobedience against it.

The first year of Morsy’s presidency has seen several lawsuits against journalists and media professionals – including Tahrir TV anchor Dina Abdel Fattah and CBC's El Bernameg comedian Bassem Youssef – accusing them of bad-mouthing the president and insulting Islam.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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