Mohamed Farid El-Tehami (left) during his appointment by Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
Death took away, on Monday, the head of the apparatus Egyptian General Intelligence Former Mohamed Farid El-Tohamy at the age of 77, after a struggle with illness. He was one of the president’s close associates. Abdel Fattah SisiSince the two men were colleagues in the armed forces, as Al-Tahami was Sisi’s commander in the infantry, and one of his officials when he was managing the Military Intelligence Service.
Sisi referred Al-Tahami to retirement from his position as head of the General Intelligence Service at the end of 2014 due to his health conditions and his inability to perform his duties, after he had contributed to formulating the security system following… Army coupled by Sisi, on the late president Mohamed Morsyon July 3, 2013.
Al-Tahami graduated from the Military College in late 1967, and worked for a long time alongside the late Minister of Defense Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who chose him as Director of Military Intelligence in the late 1990s, before assuming the presidency of the Administrative Control Authority in 2004, succeeding Major General Hitler Tantawi.
Mohamed Farid El-Tohamy’s tenure as head of the Authority was the least influential and least exposed of corruption cases throughout its history. His tenure saw officers working at the Authority deviate from the confidentiality required in such oversight bodies by making media statements about cases that were exposed, without the head of the Authority taking any action.
Al-Tehami remained in his position after the January 25, 2011 revolution, taking advantage of his strong relationship with Tantawi, who became the equivalent of a president in his capacity as head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, until Morsi assumed the presidency and asked a dismissed officer in the Administrative Control Authority, Moatasem Fathy, to present the corruption files against the ministers of the late President Hosni Mubarak and their office managers, the activation of which depended on a decision, never issued, by Al-Tehami.
The information included that Al-Tahami obtained plots of land by direct order, without completing legal procedures. Based on this information, Morsi decided to dismiss Al-Tahami from his position and appoint Major General Omar Heiba as his successor in September 2012. Al-Tahami reappeared after the army ousted Morsi, as Sisi appointed him head of the General Intelligence Service, succeeding Major General Mohamed Raafat Shehata. Al-Tahami’s appointment was not widely accepted in the service, as he had no experience working in it, as his last position related to intelligence had been held about ten years earlier.