Egyptian agriculture official commits suicide over corruption

CAIRO - 17  July 2020: An Egyptian agriculture official committed suicide by taking aluminium phosphide tables, fumigant for stored cereal grains, on Fridday after being accused of money corruption.

Head of the Agricultural Association in a village of Abij at the Kafr El-Zayat city in Gharbiya Governorate A. H.  committed suicide by taking these poinoing tablets after he and three others were referred to the Public Prosecution and the Administrative Control for embezzling LE 724,000 (about $45,371).

The four officials were referred to the interrogation after the head of the Ministry of Agriculture office in Gharbiya governorate Ali Abdel-Gawad reported that there is a shortage of 2,335 sacks of urea fertilizers at a cost of  724,000.

On July 9, 2020: Alexandria Criminal Court sentenced the head of West Alexandria district to 3 years in prison over receiving a bribe from a contractor to cover up violations in the district. Supervision authorities in Alexandria succeeded in arresting the head of Gharb district for receiving a financial bribe of L.E. 30,000.

In January 2020, the ACA ordered the arrest of Abdel Azim Hussein, chief of the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA), for allegedly accepting bribes, state’s media reported.

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

In July 2018, the authority arrested the head of the country’s Customs Authority on suspicion of accepting bribes to allow the entry of banned goods into the country