Wednesday, April 7, 2010

And I Thought It Was The Egyptian Mercedes Complexity

Egyptians love German automobiles since the invention of cars and German cars means in the Egyptian psychology : Luxury and force. You are an “A” Class , a real “A” Class when you have a black Mercedes car with a driver and you are a hype stylish A Class when you have a black BMW 7 series !!
No country in the world in 1990s named Mercedes cars names like “Safia El-Emari 1” or “Powder2 or “Ghost3 or “Alligator4or "Piggy5" , after all Who can forget legendary late Soad Hosni in the epic 1970s “Watch out of Zozo” when she said :
I will work at Al Ahram street6 and buy a Merchedes7
Or the fantastic late Sana’a Jamil famous scream in the 1990s hit series "The White Flag"
Haaammoooooo get me the Alligator!!
It was not a strange thing to find Egypt from the top countries importing Mercedes cars in the region nor it was a strange thing for Mercedes-Benz to open a factory in Egypt with huge subsidiary nor it was a strange thing to find the “A” Officials in the regime always choose the black Mercedes as their official car regardless of its cost which the taxpayer pays because simply Mercedes is the synonymous of power and luxury but it seems that last part is wrong because it turned out that lately our officials changed their minds about Mercedes cars !!
Otherwise why Mercedes Benz would bribe our officials with money of dollars so they would choose Mercedes over other companies !!??  This international scandal by all measures has been ignored in the official media as if Daimler has not paid millions to settle corruption charges !! For a whole decade from 1998 to 2008 the German automobile giant was paying millions  to officials in countries like in China, Egypt, Turkey , Russia and Nigeria. Mercedes published Niyazov of Turkmenistan a book beside a Mercedes car in his birthday . It paid also more than 3 million Euros to the Russian officials to secure the sale of cars to police. In China the German giant had to pay bribes about 2.6 million Euros to the Chinese government so it would ensure receiving contracts worth of 71.56 million Euros. Now concerning our dear Egypt , well our officials had presents for sure beside money , money , money but up till now they do not speak , they did not say a single word despite all the world is speaking about and Daimler admitted that it did something horrible for God sake !!
It is huge scandal by all measure not only for Daimler but also for Germany , this is the second bribe for a German giant company after Siemens which also involved Egyptian officials !!
Notes 1. Safia El-Emari , the beautiful actress is famous for her eyes , her eyes were compared to the headlights of the Mercedes car model of that year. That model I remember was called eyes.
2. Powder was related to the drug dealers , the price of that model was so expensive that only big drug dealers can afford.
3. The Ghost was the first model I remember with LE 1 Million price tag, it is black like a ghost
4. That model was called Alligator because of its body design !!
5. Piggy Model as in pig because of its inside body design
6. Al Ahram street till the 1990s was famous for its casinos and nightclubs
7. Low classes in Egypt call Mercedes "Merchedes" for some reason related to the pronunciation of "C" I can't understand it

11 comments:

  1. Egypt has more mercedes and bmws than Germany btw

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  2. Dear Zeinobia, do you think there is one single foreign company which makes business in Egypt and does not pay bribes to Egyptian officials? Egypt is one of the most corrupt countries in world and any foreign company has to pay kick-back payments...

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  3. @ last anon, very true and i knw for a fact that some top law firms wont open in Egypt bec they dnt want down the bribery road. Bribery to enter the market and u have to be connected if u want to work locally since every thing is monopolized by someone and i knw that from experience

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  4. That was a stunning and hilarious !

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  5. Am sure bribes are paid at high places to ensure that custom duties for certain car makes are lower. Lower hypothetical prices for Peugeot or Mercedes ensure that you pay less than for Japanese cars. Nothing is left to chance in Egypt, from football matches to TV spots given to popular singers.

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  6. "Horrible" is a dramatic expression for a very usual thing that happens all around the world every day. As for our beloved country ... :)

    What has been published so far is that it was one deal (only) and this was not related to passenger car sales to the public, it was a deal with the army. Let them deal with it :)

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  7. in Egypt we strive now to know who took this bribe, your English is truly fantastic !

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  8. Hi Zeinobia,
    Thank you for this amazing blog, if it is not too personal to ask, can you please tell me what is your religious background ? By this Question I mean to ask are you a Muslim or a Christian ?

    Thanks again
    Best Regards!

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  9. Could you please let us know the names of high official did accept the bribes in Egypt? Thank you

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  10. El marcheedes ya me3alema

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