Slap Him , He Is A MB !!

Since the sudden acquisition of Omar Effendi by Arabiyya Lel Istithmaraat investment firm and there are so many questions about the CEO of the company and the man in front of the media : Mohamed Metwalli.
Regular Egyptians wonder who is that man called Mohamed Metwalli whom they have never heard before and yet bought their old favorite department store, the official media is speaking about Muslim brotherhood connections surrounding the man as if these MB connections are Zionist connections and as if the former owner of Omar Effendi was not a Saudi Wahbi “I do not have anything against it” . We are no longer asking how this man and his company will save Omar Effendi but we are wondering whether his father in law was a MB or not !!??
Now the first publication whether online or offline that spoke about Metwalli roots as far as I could tell correctly was Online El-Badil.Already Metwalli tried to acquire El-Badil in a failed attempt like his previous attempts to acquire newspapers in Egypt. His previous attempts include Al Dostor and Al Fagr. El-Badil claims that his MB relations stood as a barrier to seal the deal.
Now Mohamed Metwalli is married to the daughter of late famous MB icon Abdel Azim Lokma. I do not know about the Metwallis, his parents except from what I read but I know about his in-laws very well. Lokma left Egypt during the 1960s to Saudi Arabia and returned back to Egypt in 1970s where he transferred his investments and began to build a new economic empire. Late Abdel Azim Lokma was not a MB leader or a member in the guide’s office as portrayed in the media.
The Lokmas are the owner of famous Groppi now. I do not know if Lokma was active in the brotherhood till his death but I know that one of his daughters is married to one of the Othman Ahmed Othman’s sons and that they have their own economic empire from companies and investments. Metwali moved to the States from couple of years ago after having financial troubles but amazingly he returned back more powerful than before. From economic point of view What we see is not Metwalli and his mother’s investments but also the Lokma and Othman clan’s investments.
Now I believe there is nothing in law against Metwalli to acquire Omar Effendi because his father in law or even his father is MB , in fact there is nothing in law against Metwalli to acquire Omar Effendi if he were a MB himself. We are speaking about encouraging the national capital money and yet we are killing it by stupid provoking accusations. I do not understand but would it be ok if Qatar holding buys Omar Effendi !!? Would it be ok !!?? Already the government and the regime approve this deal and bless it so I do not understand this media craze about his late father in law !!
Our issue here is not Metwalli’s father in law or his father who are both dead but our issue is how the Saudi former owner got away or even got Omar Effendi in the first place and how he sold it to another owner in this way. Already the public persecutor opened an investigation about the deal between Metwalli and the former of owner of Omar Effendi  by the request of MP Mustafa Bakery.Needless to say I doubt we will get anything from that ongoing investigation when the man who sold Omar Effendi was awarded by a position in the World Bank !!
To be honest I respect Metwalli’s PR department strategy choosing the Araby Nasserite to have his first interview in order to deny any MB connection and also to promote the importance of the Egyptian identity of Omar Effendi and the Egyptian products in that historical department store. I like that smart move.  Since then we have the rest of his interviews through out the media like in Al Shorouk where he promised that he would return back the famous old logo. He also promised in another interview , I believe in Al Araby to target the African markets for expansion.
After what happened to Omar Effendi after its privatization makes me indifferent to whom ever buys it because damage has already done , regardless of Metwalli’s background he has one hell of job to restore Omar Effendi to 1/4 what it used to be in the international retail stores competition currently happening in Egypt. The only thing that I hope is that Omar Effendi will not turn in to another Groppi !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Economy,Media,Omar Effendi,Politics,National,Mohamed Metwalli,Investments,Privatization,Groppi