An employee counts money at an exchange office in downtown Cairo (Photo credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
CAIRO – 26 June 2018: A Giza court ordered the detention of Major General Nader al-Saeed, the head of Dokki district, for 4 days pending investigation, over the accusations of accepting bribes.
The Egyptian Administrative Control Authority (ACA) had ordered the arrest of Major Saeed and other three partners, according to state-owned Akhbar el-yom on Tuesday.
The district’s head faces accusations of receiving a LE 250,000 ($13,990) bribe and accepting a housing unit worth LE 2 million ($111,890) in Giza’s street of El-Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz as a bribe in order not to take legal procedures against a construction violation in the unit.
The construction violation legally requires the unit to be demolished, according to reports. Violators illegally gain over LE 10 million ($559,137) from the unit.
Two owners of a contracting company were arrested over accusations of bribing Saeed. The ACA also ordered the arrest of a legal professional, according to reports. The General Prosecution ordered the four defendants to be taken into custody pending investigation.
state’s fight against corruption
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has always asserted on applying strict measures within the government institutions to crack down any violation. He hailed the role played by the ACA in different occasions.
During the Egyptian Family Iftar ceremony held earlier in June, Sisi affirmed that the regulatory institutions have been endorsed, saying that the state will not tolerate violations and will firmly fight against corruption.
In late May, the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court ruled 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 the four officials to the court and ordered to detain them four days pending investigations over receiving LE 2 million ($111,764) in bribes for accepting a tender bid from a commodities supply company.
On May 5, the ACA arrested four officials from the Ministry of Finance for accepting 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.
Reasons of bribe in Egypt
The Administrative Prosecution Authority presented in its annual report in late October a study on the causes of the spread of bribery in Egypt and effective ways to eliminate it.
Counselor Faryal Qutb, head of the committee, which prepared the report, revealed five reasons behind bribery:
1. Poor moral and religious education.
2. Lack of real supervision and follow up.
3. Delays in the adjudication of disciplinary punishments for bribery crimes in a manner that does not achieve public and private deterrence.
4. Poor salaries of employees in general.
5. The large number of services accomplished by a limited number of employees.
Suggestions to eliminate the phenomenon
Counselor Saad Khalil, a member of the technical office, presented in the report five suggestions to eliminate bribery:
1. Increasing the minimum salary of employees to ensure a decent living. The state has made great strides in this direction.
2. Activating internal control systems and supervisory responsibility.
3. Employees deal with the public only when necessary.
4. Increasing penalties for such crimes to reach dismissal or deprivation of pension.
5. Choosing safe places to keep deposits, all while ensuring the efficiency of security and warning devices.
Additional reporting by Walaa Ali
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