Head of government-owned medical company arrested over embezzlement charges

CAIRO - 2 May 2017: The head of the sales and marketing sectors at a government-owned medical company were arrested for misappropriating drugs worth 9.5 million EGP ($524,000), according to a Monday statement by the Ministry of Interior.

Company head Diab, 46, and two others, his partner Ragab A. and store manager Mohamed R., are accused of stealing drugs, said the statement.

Diab is facing a charge of abusing the privileges of his post at a public utility which happens to be the Holding Company of Pharmaceuticals. The two other men were charged with unlawfully approving the release of the drugs. The three are from Gharbiya governorate, in northern Egypt.

The defendants returned a total of 2.5 million EGP of the main value of the seized drugs to the company’s treasury and confessed to committing the crime. They were then referred to the public prosecution, which ordered their detention pending investigations.

Public Funds Crime’s Investigation Police, in collaboration with the Interior Ministry, has cracked down on several cases of embezzlement and harming public funds as part of a more vigilant campaign.

In March, an Egyptian judge was arrested on charges of corruption after millions of Egyptian pounds and foreign currencies were seized at his home. A few hours after the arrest he hanged himself inside his prison cell.