07:46 PM
Monday 14 February 2022
Books – Mohamed Emara:
“Masrawy” is unique in publishing the text of the Public Prosecution’s investigations into the case known in the media as “Ali Baba’s Cave.. Zamalek’s Apartment”, in a series of successive episodes.
The Cairo Court of Appeal, headed by Counselor Essam Farid, has set the February 19 session for the start of the trial of two accused of trafficking in antiquities before the Cairo Criminal Court.
The Public Prosecution ordered the referral of the owner of the Zamalek apartment – after his arrest, interrogation, and his release on bail of one million pounds – and his wife to the Criminal Court for their trafficking in antiquities, by the habit of buying, selling and exchanging them, and their possession of one thousand three hundred and eighty-four artifacts (1384) dating back to different eras of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The Islamic eras and the era of the Muhammad Ali Pasha family, which are subject to legal protection and are not registered with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and the two accused did not notify the Council of them to register them within the legally prescribed period with their knowledge of its antiquities, as well as concealing one hundred and nineteen pieces (119) of the property of the Muhammad Ali family. Revolutionary Command Council on November 8, 1953 confiscated.
And to the text of the investigations of the first part:
We devoted this report to the interrogation of the accused / (AHH) in Case No. (5) of 2021, limiting the investigation of the Technical Office of the Attorney General, and on the occasion of his presence outside the investigation room, we invited him to the interior, and we arrested him and with his debate we found him a man in his mid-eighties and verbally asking him about the accusations The investigations are attributed to him after we informed him of it and its punishment, and that the Public Prosecution is conducting investigations with him, namely: (1) his trade in antiquities by the habit of buying, selling and exchanging them, (2) his possession of antiquities subject to the provisions of Article 1 of the Antiquities Protection Law, not registered with the Supreme Council of antiquities and did not notify him of them to register them within the legally prescribed period, while being aware of their antiquities, (3) concealing pieces of the “Mohammed Ali” family’s property, issued by the Revolutionary Command Council’s decision on November 8, 1903, confiscating them, (4) committing a money laundering crime for the seized proceeds resulting from the crime of trade in Archaeology; He denied it, and by asking him if he had a heater to attend his interrogation, he decided in the presence of Professor Mustafa Ahmed Ali Ahmed – the lawyer, who presented us with his registration card in the Bar under No. 38000. The previous revocation attached its photo to the investigations. When questioned, he replied:
My name is: a. p
I work: Adviser to the former Vice-President of the State Council
He is currently a technical advisor to the President of the Constitutional Court of the State of Kuwait.
Q: What do you say about what is attributed to you that you are accused of trafficking in antiquities? That I used to buy, sell and exchange them as indicated in the investigations?
A/ With regard to trafficking, this accusation is not true, and the things they say about ancient civilizations and Pharaohs, I do not understand them, and I have never traded in them. I have been in my shop for sixty years, collecting works of art and antiques that belong to European civilization and not only European, Asian, Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asia, and many Russian needs because I love these things very much and I have enough experience in them, and these things I only collect, and you entered the house and saw the amount of things I have, and does the large amount that I have indicates that I am a merchant, certainly not.
Q/ What do you say about what is attributed to you that you are accused of possessing one thousand three hundred and eighty-four artifacts dating back to different periods of the ancient Egyptian civilization and Islamic eras and the age of the Muhammad Ali family and subject to the text of Article 1 of the Antiquities Protection Law, and it is not registered with the Supreme Council of Antiquities and you have not notified it Are you aware of their antiquity, as indicated in the investigations?
A/ With regard to the Antiquities Law, I was presented with this law before it was issued in 1983 AD to express a legal opinion on it, and I said at the time that the definition of antiquities in this law is a rubbery definition, very broad, not tight and ignorant, and it should not be left to the party in charge of its application because it was unleashed, and the needs that are They say it is Pharaonic. I do not understand the needs of the pharaohs and scarecrows that I met in this house of my grandmother because my family worked in Upper Egypt and they bought these scarabs from there for small amounts, because they searched the land in Upper Egypt and found Balawi, so they sold them at cheap prices, and for the other things they say about them. Pharaonic, this was found in a handbag (handbag) in the store behind the cupboard in my bedroom at the end of the road, and these things I do not remember where I got the truth from, but the wood stains. Islamic I can’t know if it is original or imitated, and there is no such thing as if the pieces date back to the era of the Muhammad Ali family, because anything that goes back to the era of this family is not antiquities.
Q/ What do you say about what is attributed to you that you are accused of hiding 119 pieces of the property of the Muhammad Ali family, whose confiscation was issued by the Revolutionary Command Council on November 8, 1903, as indicated in the investigations?
A / I do not hide anything and any need that I have is possible, some of which are true and owned by members of the family of Muhammad Ali, but they were sold in public auctions set up by the Egyptian government and they were traded among people and I bought them from them, and when I see the need, I can say I got it from exactly where, and in needs inherited from my ancestors I can also specify them when I see them, and I want to say that I know how to describe the antiques, Chris, and it happened that the magazines sold auctions followed them, and the descriptions in them were not accurate. I bought them and they are catalogs of the auction halls of “Susie”, “Christie”, “Bonhams” and “Phillips” and I kept them and I have catalogs of the same halls of mine because I have been a subscriber to them since the nineties and I show the magazines for the things that will follow and then there are answers, and I want to clarify I am learning and doing research similar to law, and perhaps more, and I have studies on this subject, and when I write a description of a piece, this remains the correct description of it, and no one argues with me about it, and this is for European, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Indian needs in particular, but the current situation The second one, as I describe it, is not detailed, so there is a description in general, as for example, the Islamic needs. I can describe them as tombac. I mean, they are copper and there is a lot of gold in them, and they are used for rich people, but these things (the tombac) have become extinct for a long time, and I want to clarify that the research What I do and studies are to increase my experience because I love collecting ancient artifacts, and sometimes it was possible for someone to use me to say my opinion if it was original or not, and as much as I could specify the artist who made the masterpiece and its history, and I want to make it clear that there is a difference between scientific experience and practical experience. The committees that examine the Supreme Council of Antiquities have scientific experience, but not practical experience.
Q/ What do you say about what is attributed to you that you are accused of committing the crime of money laundering for the seized proceeds resulting from the crime of antiquities trading?
A/ This is not true, and I completely reject it, and as I said before, my money is halal, and my family’s money is all halal.