Egyptian anti-corruption activist arrested on bribery charges
Egyptian authorities over the weekend arrested prominent anti-corruption activist and campaigner Hamdi al-Fakhrani on charges of bribery.
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Fakharani has filed several high-profile anti-corruption lawsuits against corporations in the past [Twitter]
The head of the Egyptian National Anti-Corruption Organisation has been arrested in Cairo over alleged charges of bribery.
Former parliamentarian and anti-corruption lawyer Hamdi al-Fakhrani was arrested on Sunday in a sting operation by police at his home after allegedly accepting part of a bribe to revoke a case against a businessman.
“Fakhrani offered to drop a case he had filed against businessman Samuel Thabet to re-claim land he had bought off the Nile Cotton Ginning Company for the sum of 5mn Egyptian pounds ($638,400),” pro-government journalist and former parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri told a local TV station on Monday.
“Fakhrani was arrested in sting operation at his private villa while receiving the first installment of the bribe worth 250 thousand Egyptian pounds ($31,920),” he added.
Bakri said police had tapped the anti-corruption activist’s phone calls and installed surveillance cameras in the villa to record the meeting between Fakhrani and the businessman.
Fakharani is no stranger to controversy, prior to the 2011 revolution he filed several high-profile anti-corruption lawsuits against corporations, he was also arrested in 2013 for inciting violence – charges which were later dropped.
On Monday, Egypt’s agriculture minister Salah al-Din Mahmoud Helal was arrested over corruption allegations minutes after he resigned on the instruction of President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi.
Local media has reported that Helal had accepted improper gifts from a businessman in return for 2,500 acres of land in Wadi Natrun in the north-western Nile Delta, the bribes allegedly include, a luxury flat, membership at the al-Ahly sporting club, expensive clothes, mobile phones, all-inclusive Hajj trips and an iftar dinner in a hotel.
Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Hossam Moghazi has been named as acting minister of agriculture until the government finds someone to permanently fill the post.
Al-Araby al-Jadeed’s Arabic service has reported that sources in Egyptian government have said the Minister of Religious Endowments, Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa, was summoned on Tuesday to the public prosecutor for questioning on possible involvement in the Helal corruption case and illegally obtaining state-owned land in Beni Suef, south of Cairo.
Al-Shorouk has reported that wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle is expected soon, which would be the second major cabinet restructure since Sisi took office in June 2013.
Former parliamentarian and anti-corruption lawyer Hamdi al-Fakhrani was arrested on Sunday in a sting operation by police at his home after allegedly accepting part of a bribe to revoke a case against a businessman.
“Fakhrani offered to drop a case he had filed against businessman Samuel Thabet to re-claim land he had bought off the Nile Cotton Ginning Company for the sum of 5mn Egyptian pounds ($638,400),” pro-government journalist and former parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri told a local TV station on Monday.
“Fakhrani was arrested in sting operation at his private villa while receiving the first installment of the bribe worth 250 thousand Egyptian pounds ($31,920),” he added.
Bakri said police had tapped the anti-corruption activist’s phone calls and installed surveillance cameras in the villa to record the meeting between Fakhrani and the businessman.
Fakharani is no stranger to controversy, prior to the 2011 revolution he filed several high-profile anti-corruption lawsuits against corporations, he was also arrested in 2013 for inciting violence – charges which were later dropped.
On Monday, Egypt’s agriculture minister Salah al-Din Mahmoud Helal was arrested over corruption allegations minutes after he resigned on the instruction of President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi.
Local media has reported that Helal had accepted improper gifts from a businessman in return for 2,500 acres of land in Wadi Natrun in the north-western Nile Delta, the bribes allegedly include, a luxury flat, membership at the al-Ahly sporting club, expensive clothes, mobile phones, all-inclusive Hajj trips and an iftar dinner in a hotel.
Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Hossam Moghazi has been named as acting minister of agriculture until the government finds someone to permanently fill the post.
Al-Araby al-Jadeed’s Arabic service has reported that sources in Egyptian government have said the Minister of Religious Endowments, Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa, was summoned on Tuesday to the public prosecutor for questioning on possible involvement in the Helal corruption case and illegally obtaining state-owned land in Beni Suef, south of Cairo.
Al-Shorouk has reported that wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle is expected soon, which would be the second major cabinet restructure since Sisi took office in June 2013.
Many Egyptians took to social media ridicule the alleged government crackdown on corruption, with the sarcastic Arabic-language hashtags #ThePresidentFightsCorruption and #EgyptIsCleanedUp, trending on Twitter.
“The corrupt one [Sisi] hands out the best land to members of the army who profit from it, builds tax-exempt factories where soldiers are forced to work,” said a pro-Muslim Brotherhood Twitter user.
The Arab world has recently seen a wave of anti-corruption protests in several countries, wide-scale demonstrations have recently been held around Lebanon, calling for the end of a corrupt and inept politicians.
Last month, hundreds of Iraqi protesters took to the streets in Baghdad to call for the resignation of the country's chief justice and the names of corrupt politicians and officials to be made public.
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