Top prosecutor Nabil Sadeq issued a publishing ban decision on Wednesday over the investigations conducted in a report issued by the Central Auditing Organization stating that the size of corruption in Egypt in 2015 amounted to LE600 billion.
The publishing ban decision includes all media outlets whether visual, audible or written, until the investigations are concluded.
A fact-finding committee formed by Egypt’s presidency concluded that statements made in December by Hisham Geneina, head of the Central Auditing Organization, that said government corruption cost the country LE600 billion in 2015 were “exaggerated” and “delusional”.
The uproar caused by Geneina’s statements and consequent confusion on the numbers prompted the presidency to form a panel in the same month to probe the allegations.
The panel, which was comprised of representatives from the finance, justice and interior ministries, as well as Geneina’s deputy, said it contacted Geneina in late December 2015 to inquire about his statements. The CAO director, according to the panel, replied that the numbers he had mentioned were the result of work by a technical panel he had formed from the organization’s employees.
The presidency panel said it has found that some of the amounts related to the alleged corruption were categorized under multiple categories and therefore calculated more than once.
An investigation by the public prosecution was initiated in the incident.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
