In Egypt, the Military Means (Big) Business

Field Marshal Abdelfatah al-Seesi, the army chief who ousted the freely elected government of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, flew to the United Arab Emirates on March 12 to observe military maneuvers. A few days before his trip it was announced that the UAE’s Arabtec Construction would collaborate with the Egyptian military in a $40 billion project to build a million low-income housing units in Egypt. The collaboration is part of the UAE’s assistance to get Egypt back on its feet. It is also a sign that the Egyptian military’s grip on the economy is growing stronger.

Egypt’s business executives say they owe the army a lot for unseating Mursi. After the 2011 fall of Hosni Mubarak, many of his supporters found themselves facing a public reckoning for the corruption and crony capitalism of the old regime. Prosecutors filed charges against them in criminal courts. The prosecutions “happened to many business people, and that’s why the business people, or a part of them, stopped investing,” says Mohamed Abou El Enein, owner of Egypt’s largest ceramics exporter. “Part of them left.” But in the last year, the Cassation Court has overturned all the corruption verdicts it has ruled on.