State seizes Brotherhood-run medicine companies

Daily News Egypt
2 Min Read
The Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday its intention to prepare a draft to amend the Egyptian pharmacy law in order to combat unlicensed pharmaceutical products, as well as illegal pharmacies. (DNE Photo)

The government committee authorised to monitor the assets of Muslim Brotherhood members decided to freeze and confiscate the assets of 46 members of the outlawed group. The committee also ordered that the targeted individuals forfeit their control over five companies.

According to a statement published by state media, those targeted include the former head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, Mohamed Abdel Gawad, who had owned assets in a private company for producing medicines.

The seized companies will be run by the Ministry of Health, and each will be assigned new management. Medicines have been disappearing off the shelves for months, including a number of vital ones with no locally-manufactured alternative, sparking complaints from worried Egyptians.

Since the ouster of the Brotherhood from the presidency in 2013, former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, his aides, and other senior and junior members had their assets frozen by the by the committee, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Justice.

The committee was formed in October 2013, following a court verdict that banned the activities of the Brotherhood and ordered for all members’ capital to be confiscated. As such, the committee froze the assets of hundreds of the group’s members, non-governmental organisations, and companies affiliated with the group.

The Brotherhood was labeled a terrorist organisation in 2013.

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