A fact-finding comittee to investigate CAO’s statements
Economists said that the latest statements by Hisham Genena, the Head of the Central Auditing Organisation, on corruption will cause confusion among investors, especially in light of the conflict that has occurred in this respect. Genena announced that the extent of corruption reached in 2015 about 600bn pounds and then later announced that the figure is in three years. The authority then released a statement explaining that the size of corruption that had been announced was collectively over 4 years, beginning from 2012 and until 2015.
The Presidency released a statement stressing that in light of following up statements published by some media on corruption within state institutions exceeding EGP 600bn pounds during 2015, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directed the formation of a face-finding committee to investigate these statements.
According to the presidential statement, the committee is preparing an urgent report to be submitted to the president and inform the public on the results of its work within the framework of full transparency.
The committee comprises the head of the Administrative Control Authority as chairman and representatives of the ministries of Planning, Finance, Interior and Justice as members and Hisham Badawi, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Auditing Organisation.
Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, the Secretary of the Union of Arab Investors and Secretary General of the Egyptian-European partnership at the Ministry of International Cooperation, said that the statements by the head of the CAO was not successful and that he did not express himself correctly because corruption is not necessarily bribery or embezzlement but also delaying people›s interests, which is the global standard for measuring the extent of corruption.
He stressed that the statements will not affect the investors and businessmen, as investors know the circumstances of each country before they enter it even if it is witnessing wars.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s orders to form a fact-finding committee to investigate the statements reflect a rational presidency and that the State does not have any sensitivity in dealing with corruption cases.
He explained that Egypt signed the international Convention against Corruption, and is currently preparing to review the agreement with Egypt›s partners in the European Union and the United States.
Hossam Heiba, the board member of the Egyptian Society of direct investment, said the statement by the head of the Central Auditing Organisation was astonishing especially because of inconsistency and inaccuracy by an official in charge of figures. Once he said the figure was in one year and then he said in three years and later the statement by the organisations confirmed that the corruption during 2015 amounted to 600 billion pounds and was the result of corruption throughout 4 years from 2012 to 2015.
The Presidency is the only institution that is moving quickly to resolve the problems of investors in Egypt and therefore formed a face-finding committee to investigate these statements, which reassures investors.
The figure announced by Genena will create a state of confusion among investors and as long as the figures are not clear and they should not be mentioned, he said.
He wondered what the organisation has done regarding the corruption has announced, saying it is a question we do not know its answer.
Ossama el Maraghi, the Spokesman for the organisation, said the corruption during the four years came as a result of a study prepared by the CAO at the request of the Ministry of Planning, pointing out that the study included some sectors to highlight the shortcomings without specifying the total for a given year. He pointed out that this study tackled the evaluation of many systems to highlight the glitches in some sectors.
