Egypt

Investigations launched into govt cover-up of misspent funds

The prosecutor general has opened investigations into charges that former head of the Administrative Control Authority,  Mohamed Farid al-Tohamy, and authority official Mohamed Fatehy Nema hid key evidence against former ministers charged with mismanagement of funds.

Judicial sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Friday that both officials are accused of hiding reports proving the guilt of former Housing Minister Ahmed al-Maghrabi and former head of the water and sanitation projects' executive authority Hassan Khaled Fadel.

Hamada Shaaban, a Housing Ministry official, testified on Thursday that both of the accused doctored reports that showed Maghraby and Fadel squandered millions of pounds of public funds by committing major violations while overseeing infrastructure projects or new cities.

Maghraby ordered the use of the wrong type of pipes to transfer treated wastewater from the Tenth of Ramadan City to Belbais, leading to the waste of LE9 million, Shaaban said.

Nema also hid violations committed in another project at the Tenth of Ramadan City where LE3.66 milion of public money were squandered, and his report also failed to disclose that LE5 million were squandered in the construction of a water station in the same city, Shaaban said.

Maghrabi is also accused of ordering that water be transferred to his house through a special water line, and closed off another water main that interfered with his private line. The work cost LE8 million, Shaaban claimed.

Tohamy is also charged with destroying nine pages of a report written by an authority employee that details violations committed by former Housing Minister Ibrahim Suleiman. The report stated that Suleiman had allocated state lands to businessman Hisham Talaat Mostafa for a private project.

Edited transaltion from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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