ACA arrests major officials, bank employees over bribes

CAIRO – 5 May 2018: The Administration Control Authority (ACA) arrested four officials from the Ministry of Finance early Saturday over bribes worth around LE 500 million ($28.4 million).

The defendants took bribes from the owners of private companies to facilitate the transfer of financial rights for their companies.

The ACA also arrested a female official from the Ministry of Irrigation over taking LE 30,000 as a bribe from the owner of a ship berth to facilitate obtaining the license.

At the same time, the ACA arrested several officials from many banks around the state for taking more than LE 11 million in bribes to facilitate credit procedures and loans for owners of major companies.

Also, the security forces arrested a person for impersonating an official in one of the supervisory authorities for taking LE 60,000 as a bribe from the owner of a property, claiming his ability to postpone the implementation of the decision to remove the property.

In February, the Cairo Criminal Court ruled to sentence former Helwan Governor Hazem el-Qowaidi to five years in prison and a fine of LE 50,000 for receiving bribes as governor.

Also, in late of January, Menoufia Governor Hesham Abdel Baset and two businessmen in Sadat City were arrested over charges of corruption.

Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt for decades and were one of the main causes of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

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

The ACA’s efforts have been very fruitful in recent years, having prosecuted several high-profile cases, which led to a noticeable decline in incidents of corruption.

In April 2016, the Cairo Criminal Court sent former Agriculture Minister Salah el-Din Mahmoud Helal and his office manager to 10 years in prison each on corruption charges.

The prosecution said in a court session that Helal and his office manager had accepted bribes, including a luxury home, membership at an exclusive sports club, clothing from high-end fashion stores and mobile phones.

In January 2017, former State Council Secretary-General Wael Shalaby committed suicide while in custody after being arrested for alleged corruption.

This incident came days after a procurement manager at the State Council, Gamal al-Laban, was arrested and charged with receiving bribes worth millions of Egyptian pounds.