IGA receives 900k financial disclosures from gov't employees

CAIRO - 7 March 2019: Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority (IGA) announced receiving about 900,000 financial disclosures from government employees for the year 2019, saying that a number of 850 consultants will review the financial disclosures submitted.

Former Transportation Minister Hesham Arafat, who resigned in February 2019, is set to submit his financial disclosure, sources said.

The authority found that over 439 employees have failed to submit their disclosures so far without clear reasons, sources said. The sources added that it alerted personnel departments to send these employees' disclosures and to check their assets on the ground.

The sources pointed out that submitting the disclosures on time prevents employees from being referred to the criminal court, according to the illicit gains.

The IGA is authorized to collect disclosures from the president, ministers, governors, parliamentarians and all state employees detailing their and their families’ wealth. Established in 1975, the IGA is subset of the Justice Ministry that investigates the collected disclosures for any missing information or unexplained increases in wealth.

In case state employees fail to prove the source of the gains in question, they will be subject to prosecution over corruption charges, travel ban and assets freezing. Unlike public workers, ordinary citizens are not required to submit their financial disclosures.

In January 2019, the country's General Prosecution ordered detaining Marsa Matrouh governorate's former secretary general and two other former officials for 15 days over allowing unlawful seizure of public funds estimated at LE 500 million ($28.3 million).