Youssef Botros Ghaly denies misappropriating pension and social security funds in response to accusations

The article includes an response from Youssef Botros Gali to the accusations regarding the misappropriation of pension and insurance funds, particularly those related to investments in the stock market in 2006 during Mubarak's rule. Gali clarified that the allegations circulating are false and that he did not have the authority to invest pension funds because he was the Minister of Economy, not the Minister of Finance. Moreover, he emphasized that the law prohibits investing these funds outside Egypt. He pointed out that funds were indeed transferred from the pension system to the stock market during his tenure, but this was due to an economic crisis in Southeast Asia that Egypt was affected by. He stated that he communicated with the then-Prime Minister Kamel El-Ganzouri, who asked him to invest a portion of the excess pension funds temporarily to support the market. Gali recalled that he and Taliaoui proposed injecting one billion Egyptian pounds and using financial management companies to generate returns. He emphasized that this experience yielded an average annual return of 23% over 20 years and assured that the funds were not wasted and that they generated profits.