Court retries former Menoufia governor over illicit gains Monday

CAIRO – 4 February 2019: Cairo Criminal Court will retry on Monday former Menoufia Governor Hesham Abdel Baset over charges of netting more than LE 58 million ($3.28 million) in illicit gains, state's Akhbar al-Youm reported.

A judicial court in Giza sentenced Nov. 12 Abdel Baset to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of LE 15 million.

Abdel Baset and two businessmen were arrested in January 2018 after the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) managed to record phone calls proving the governor agreed to take LE 2 million as a bribe in return for land licenses.


The ACA is the regulatory body responsible for enforcing laws and regulations within state bodies

According to security sources, the governor was under the ACA’s surveillance until he was detected to be involved in a number of corruption cases. The ACA then referred the governor to public prosecution for investigation.

The ACA 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.