Government has lost 80 billion US dollars since 2011 as widespread graft plagues Egypt
For years the spread of Corruption in state institutions has been a complaint among many Egyptians. In 2014 the country ranked 94th in the world’s corruption index, according to transparency international. This weekend the Central Audit organization, known as CAO, has hit the country with the total cost of corruption in the last four years. 600 billion Egyptian pounds.
” it’s not a shocking information, at least to the public they know there is corruption. But let’s focus on the positive side. For a senior official in the state to speak about it, clearly and publicly with numbers and that the Egyptian leadership responds, that’s unprecedented. For the presidency to say it’s against corruption, this has become a guarantee and an encouraging step for anyone who wants to fight corruption, to move forward.”Hisham Younis, Editor in Cheir, Al Ahram Gate
The amount of losses is nearly one third the country’s debt. It’s Four times the annual income of the Suez Canal, or three times more than what tourism used to bring in the same period. A staggering number for a country in desperate need to reduce its budget deficit. In many occasions President El Sisi has stressed on the importance of fighting corruption. Some cases have made it to court, the latest included the agriculture minister in El Sisi’s first government. But analysts say more needs to be done.
After Mubarak’s downfall in 2011, thousands of corruption cases have been filed against the former president, his family, members of his cabinet and the ruling National democratic party. Most of the accused persons were acquitted because of the weak evidence, the Egyptian monitoring organizations provided the court.
Many are happy that the President himself has responded rapidly to the Central Audit organization report. But some doubt its effectiveness. The committee includes the head of the Administrative control Authority, representatives from the ministries of interior, planning, justice and finance¡ institutions the CAO says are involved in its corruption report.
