CAIRO: A new law which may excuse illegal behavior by government officials made with “good intentions” “reopens the door for corruption,” said Talaat Marzouk, head of the legal commission of the Salafi Nour party, on Friday.
Marzouk denounced the Council of Ministers, which adopted the law in order to “protect high state officials in their decision-making process,” saying current critical times need laws preventing conflicts of interest and power abuse.
The law supposedly prevents government officials from being criminally charged for the consequences of decisions taken with “good intentions.”
“If the violation is administrative then it cannot be submitted to the law because administrative decisions must be subject to judiciary supervision. If on the other hand it is a felony then it is not anymore because of the ‘good intentions’ involved,” Marzouk said in a press statement on Friday.
“This project reopens the door for corruption under the name of good intentions. When will the government issue a law to protect the people?” Marzouk asked.
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Nour Party leader Younes Makhioun also objected to the new law on his official Facebook page, and questioned the definition of “good intentions,” noting that if an official took a decision that turned out to be destructive or a waste of public money it could be excused if the official claimed “good intentions.”
“Does this mean he escapes justice? Maybe his intentions were good towards his family and children. So who determines what good intentions are?” Makhioun asked.
“We need a law to protect the people from officials and not the opposite,” he said.
Additional reporting by Dina Abdel Alim
