Hisham Geneina arrested, referred to military prosecution
Military says it will take legal steps after Geneina mentioned possible existence of documents that can incriminate military leaders
Police forces arrested on Tuesday former head of the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) Hisham Geneina at his house in New Cairo and referred him to military prosecution, according to sources close to him.
His lawyer Ali Taha said that Geneina might be wanted for questioning after his statements about former military chief of staff Sami Anan’s possible possession of documents that can incriminate military leaders.
Genenia made the statements on Monday in an interview with the website HuffPost Arabi. Genenia was announced as one of Anan’s two running mates when the former general said he would seek the presidency last month.
On Monday night, the military said that it will take legal steps after Geneina mentioned the possible existence of documents that can incriminate military leaders.
In January, the Egyptian Armed Forces summoned and arrested Anan on charges of incitement between the military and the Egyptian people, after he decided to run for the presidential election. Anan is accused of running for office without the approval of the armed forces. The statement said that Anan is considered a reservist, hence cannot be engaged in civilian practices such as running for president in an election.
Geneina was sacked by Al-Sisi in March 2016, while his deputy, Hisham Badawi, assumed his position. Al-Sisi dismissed him in accordance with a presidential decree he issued in July 2015, giving himself the authority to appoint, replace, or dismiss heads of regulatory bodies.
An appeal by Geneina claimed that his dismissal was unconstitutional, as he considered the decree contradictory to the Egyptian Constitution, which stipulates that the work of these bodies should be independent from the state’s executive branch.
Before his dismissal as CAO head, a legal case began against Geneina when a local newspaper quoted him as saying that wasted public funds since 2015 amounted to EGP 600bn.
Geneina was sentenced to one year in prison by the Cairo Misdemeanour Court, on charges of spreading false news about corruption rates in Egypt and disrupting security and public order. He was also ordered to pay a fine of EGP 20,000 and was released on probation.