Cairo Court holds 4 officials in detention for 15 days over bribery charges

CAIRO - 31 May 2018: The New Cairo Misdemeanor Court ruled on Thursday to hold four officials in the Ministry of Supply in detention for 15 days over charges of “accepting” bribes.

Egypt’s Attorney-General Nabil Sakek referred on Wednesday the four officials to the court and ordered to detain them four days pending investigations over receiving LE $2 million ($111,763.68) in bribes for accepting a tender bid from a commodities supply company.

The detained officials include the chairperson of the Food Industries Holding Company (FIHC), and his deputy, the Ministry of Supply spokesperson, and the supply minister advisor for communicating with the Parliament.

Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt for long decades and were among the main causes of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi always asserted on applying strict measures within the government institutions to crack down any violation. He hailed the role played by the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) in different occasions.

Egypt ranked 117th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perception Index, scoring 32 points, down two points compared to 2016. A score of zero is highly corrupt while 100 is very clean.

On May 5, the ACA arrested four officials from the Ministry of Finance over bribes worth around LE 500 million ($28.4 million).

The defendants took bribes from the owners of private companies to facilitate the transfer of financial rights for their companies.

The ACA also arrested a female official from the Ministry of Irrigation over taking LE 30,000 as a bribe from the owner of a ship berth to facilitate obtaining the license.

In January 2017, former Secretary-General of Egypt's State Council Wael Shalaby committed suicide while in custody after his arrest for alleged corruption.

Additional reporting by Walaa Ali