Former head of Central Auditing Organization Hisham Genena released from prison

CAIRO – 14 February 2023: Egypt’s authorities released, Tuesday former head of the Central Auditing Organization, Hisham Genena pending case 441 of 2018, in which he is accused of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.

In April 2023, Egypt's court sentenced Genena, to five years in prison over controversial press statements to HuffPost Arabi.

Genena appealed later on the sentence; however, the appeal was refused by the court.

Geneina made controversial statements to the media in 2018 which the government has described later in a statement as "inaccurate".

The general prosecutor’s office stated in the statement then, that Geneina’s statements regarding corruptions’ cost in the country was 'exaggerated'.

An official at the Administrative Development Ministry said the CAO is not primarily concerned with researching corruption in Egypt.

According to the official, these statements were also endorsed by members of the committee who conducted the CAO study. The study had several holes as it used inaccurate mathematical modules and included incompetent researchers, she added.

She referred to a joint study made by the ministry along with five other entities, including the CAO, on the corruption in Egypt between 2008 and 2012, where it stated that the definition of corruption is only limited to intentional crimes.