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Thursday, 29 September 2022

Last Night’s Talk Shows: Reports of Ahmed El Ezaby’s arrest turned out to be greatly exaggerated

The automotive sector and El Ezaby’s rumored arrest all got airtime on last night’s talk shows.

The automotive strategy: Several shows dedicated time to discussing the government’s strategy for developing the automotive sector after its new auto committee held its first meeting yesterday. In a phone-in with Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 7:49), Khaled Shedid, non-executive chairman of Al Nasr Automotive Company, spoke of the importance of attracting multinationals to invest in Egypt. Khaled Saad, head of the Egyptian Association of Automobile Manufacturer, emphasized the need to localize automotive supply chains in Egypt to lower import costs. “Our car import bill is now EGP 4 bn and is bound to reach EGP 8 bn unless something changes,” he told Salat El Tahrir (watch, runtime: 6:26).

We have full coverage of the committee's first meeting above.

FACT CHECK- Ahmed El Ezaby isn’t in cuffs: El Ezaby and Multipharma Chairman Ahmed El Ezaby joined Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 3:11) last night to debunk rumors that he had been detained by authorities after a court ruling. He admitted to being in legal trouble regarding the company’s debts but said that it’s not something for which he will serve prison time. Yahduth Fi Masr (watch, runtime: 3:21) talked to El Ezaby’s lawyer Yasser Fathy regarding the news, who explained that Multipharma, like all other pharma distribution companies in the country, has been struggling with debt thanks to the challenges the market now faces.

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