Ex-official referred to criminal court over facilitating seizure of L.E. 67M

CAIRO – 2 February 2019: Top Prosecutor Nabil Sadeq referred a former Chairman of the General Authority for Projects for Reconstruction and Development of Agriculture to the Criminal Court over charges of facilitating the embezzlement of L.E. 67 million of public funds.

The official document has not named the accused official, who was referred along with 25 others to the court. The official has facilitated for another person to illegally seize a piece of land of 60 feddan located in west of Alexandria Desert Road, which was owned by his employer; the state-run General Authority for Projects for Reconstruction and Development of Agriculture.

The official is the main defendant in the case, and is facing charges of deliberate harm and misuse of the authority’s funds.

Egypt has referred several officials, including governors and public employees to prosecution over corruption-related charges, as part of the government’s efforts to harshly punish officials misusing their positions.

Last week, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Souad al-Khouli, former deputy governor of Alexandria, to 12 years in prison and ordered removing her from her job over bribery.
Security forces arrested Khouli in August 2017 in the General Office of Alexandria Governorate overcharges including bribery and damage of public money.

In November 2018, a judicial court in Giza sentenced former Monufia Governer Hesham Abdel Baset to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of LE 15 million over charges of bribery.

The Administrative Control Authority (ACA) – the regulatory body responsible for enforcing laws and regulations within state bodies – has ordered the arrest of numerous officials over the last two years, within the framework of the leadership’s fight against corruption.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has 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.