Egypt governor charged with graft
Abdul Basset was arrested on Sunday for accepting a bribe of 2m Egyptian pounds
Egypt’s State Security prosecutors have charged Hesham Abdul Basset, Governor of Menufia, with bribery and wasting public money, legal sources said yesterday, the latest corruption case uncovered in the country in recent months.
Abdul Basset was arrested on Sunday by the Administrative Oversight Authority, an antigraft state agency, in Menufia, north of Cairo, allegedly for taking a bribe of two million Egyptian pounds (Dh416,000) from two businessmen in return for offering them a piece of state-owned land at a low price.
The market value of the land is estimated at 20 million Egyptian pounds, the sources added. Both businessmen involved in the case were also arrested.
Authorities’ attention to the governor’s alleged malpractice came after his second wife filed a legal complaint, accusing him of corruption, the sources said. The woman’s act came after she learnt he had taken a third wife.
Abdul Basset, who became governor in February 2015, was being monitored for about four months. He is being held in custody in Cairo. He has denied any corruption charges.
Egypt’s chief prosecutor ordered that Abdul Basset’s assets and those of the two businessmen be seized.
President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi has vowed a relentless fight against corruption since he took office in 2014. Several state officials have since been arrested on corruption charges in separate cases.
In August last, the deputy governor of Alexandria, Soad Al Khuly, was held for receiving more than a million Egyptian pounds in bribes from some businessmen.