Egypt presses on with anti-graft swoop

Cairo: A senior Egyptian official in a state media watchdog has been arrested over suspected bribery as part of the country’s draconian clampdown on corruption, legal and media sources said on Wednesday.

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Media Ahmad Selim was arrested on Tuesday in his Nile-side office by the anti-corruption agency, the Administrative Oversight Authority, they added.

The arrest came in connection with a bribe incident involving Selim, who took the influential post in May 2017, private newspaper Al Watan reported.

The council’s head Makram Mohammad was was officially notified a month ago of suspicions about his aide’s allegedly illegal practices, a source inside the council said without elaborating.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi has vowed relentless fight against corruption since he took office in 2014. Several state officials have since been arrested on corruption charges in separate cases.

Last year, the then governor of the Delta province of Menufia Hesham Abdul Basset was arrested on charges of taking bribery and wasting public money. Last June, a criminal court sentenced him to 10 years in prison after convicting him of graft and influence peddling.

In 2017, Deputy Governor of the coastal city of Alexandria, Soad Al Khuly, was arrested on similar charges. She was later sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Also in 2017, Egypt’s top appeals court upheld a 10-year jail ruling against ex-agriculture minister, Salah Helal, who was convicted of taking bribes when he was in office. Nearly 50 high-profile corruption cases have been uncovered in Egypt over the past four years, according to media reports.