A prominent banking official said former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime wanted to ruin Egypt's four public banks, that is the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the National Bank of Egypt, the Bank of Alexandria and Banque du Caire.
Tarek Amer, chairman of the National Bank of Egypt's board and former vice-governor of CBE, said a businessman who was a member of National Democratic Party (NDP) proposed founding a holding company to control the four banks that would be managed by him.
Amer added that Farouq al-Okda, CBE's governor, rejected the proposal despite pressure from the former regime and indeed threatened to resign if the plan was carried out.
Among the unreasonable demands of former regime figures was to decrease interest rates during the 2005 presidential elections for the sake of businessmen, Amer told a privately-owned satellite TV channel on Saturday. Al-Okda refused.
Amer said that CBE's governor and its board members were offered NDP memberships, but all refused to join parties for the sake of their credibility.
