Attorney General orders imprisonment of 20 suspects in money laundering case

CAIRO - 16 February 2020: Attorney General Hamada al-Sawy ordered the imprisonment of 25 defendants including 5 employees for 15 days pending investigation in the largest money laundering case in Marsa Matrouh estimated at about LE 1.750 billion.

The prosecutor ordered the seizure of all the properties of the defendants.

The defendants are accused of opening and managing a group of financial accounts at Morsi Matruh Post Office, and receiving deposits and transfers estimated at about LE1.750 billion, most of which were deposited by seven people from the governorates of Upper Egypt.

These accounts were opened and managed by five employees at Matrouh Post Office, in exchange for large commissions paid every withdrawal.



Investigations revealed that among the accounts used for money laundering is an account in the name of a dead person; in addition, one of the employees involved his father in the case by opening and managing an account in his name without his father's knowledge.

Egypt established the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit in 2002 under the Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 80 of 2002. The unit’s job is to combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Egypt.

The unit aims to improve anti-money laundering/terrorist financing combating systems that have been implemented by financial institutions and others operating in Egypt. Their job is to prevent exploitation of the funds generated by criminal activities or the financing of terrorist activities. The unit's main function is to receive, analyze, and distribute the STRs received from financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions.