By IANS,
Cairo : An Egyptian MP has resigned after it was discovered he had lied about being attacked and robbed on a highway but that he had actually gone for cosmetic surgery for his nose, a media report said.
In an apparent move to cover up the surgery, Anwar Al Balkeemi, member of the radical Salafist Al Nour Party, claimed last week he was assaulted and robbed by masked gunmen, the Gulf News reported.
But a manager of a private hospital later announced that Al Balkeemi had undergone surgery to have his nose shortened, and had asked hospital officials to keep it secret so as not to embarrass him before his constituents and Islamist colleagues.
After Al Balkeemi appeared on TV with a bandage covering his face, alleging to have been attacked on a highway outside Cairo, the hospital informed police about the surgery.
His party later said that Al Balkeemi should make an official apology to the members of parliament, media as well as to all the people of Egypt “for causing concerns and disturbance”.
Al Balkeemi also quit the party that holds 26 percent of the parliament seats. This is the first elected house after the ouster of long-serving president Hosni Mubarak.
The MP now faces charges of false report and causing disturbance.