The Administrative Control Authority (ACA) arrested the chief of a criminal court in Zaqaziq, Sharkeya governorate, on Wednesday, receiving a bribe from two former parliamentarians of the People’s Assembly (currently known as the House of Representatives) in a coffee shop in Zaqaziq.
The ACA’s interrogations clarified that the chief of criminal court agreed to the LE 300,000 bribe from the two parliamentarians, for the acquittal of a defendant who was sentenced to death on murder charges.
The ACA discovered the time and place of the exchange, after recording phone calls between the chief of criminal court and the two parliamentarians, and notified Public Prosecution to take over the investigation.
Since 2015, ACA has busted several bribery cases, including that of an agriculture minister forced to resign in January 2015, and later sentenced to 10 years for taking bribes. In January 2017, Judge Wael Shalabi, deputy chief of State Council, hung himself in custody a day after his arrest for alleged corruption.
Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
