Egypt’s Customs Authority head arrested over bribery accusations: Sources

CAIRO – 9 July 2018: Head of Egypt’s Customs Authority, Gamal Abdel Azeem, was arrested on Monday, July 9, over accusations of receiving bribe, sources told Egypt Today.

The sources added that Abdel Azeem reportedly received a LE 1 million bribe from an Egyptian textile importer in exchange for finishing his customs releasing procedures as fast as possible; investigations are still underway.

On Sunday, customs officials at Cairo International Airport foiled an attempt to smuggle a large amount of medicine and silver artifacts by eight persons, including airport staff and pharmaceutical company owners, to evade taxes worth about LE 15 million.

An inspection officer revealed that the defendants stated in the customs clearance documents that the medicine and silver artifacts were for personal use.

Recently, customs officials at Cairo International Airport foiled numerous smuggling attempts carried out in cooperation with airport staff.

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

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

Egypt ranked 108th out of 176 countries on Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perception Index, scoring 34 points, down two points compared to 2015. A score of zero is highly corrupt while 100 is very clean.

Additional reporting by Wala Ali