Egypt is planning to establish a national anti-corruption committee, a working paper presented on Friday at an Arab League conference has revealed.
The committee will work on implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption, conduct studies, carry out awareness raising campaigns, and bolster cooperation with NGOs that fight corruption.
The committee will also issue an annual progress report.
The paper–presented by Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud under the title, “Crimes of Corruption and Abuse of Public Funds”–pointed out that corruption has a negative impact on development and reform and leads to a higher budget deficit.
The paper also said that the Public Prosecution has extensive powers to investigate crimes of corruption.
It also mentioned that while secret bank accounts hamper investigations, the attorney general has the right in law to request information in crimes of money laundering and noted that an independent unit has been set up to combat crimes of this type.
Last March, Transparency International said that corruption in Egypt is in the rise, calling for an urgent overhaul of election procedure and the role of the judiciary to be strengthened.
The Berlin-based group said Egypt's efforts to combat the abuse of power were blighted by a widespread conflict of interest, political interference, weak enforcement of laws and a lack of access to public information.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
