Egyptian currency - ReutersCAIRO - 25 December 2018: The Administrative Control Authority (ACA) – the regulatory body responsible for enforcing laws and regulations within state bodies – has ordered the arrest of numerous officials over the last year, within the framework of the leadership’s fight against corruption.President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has always stressed on applying strict measures within the government institutions to crack down any violation. He received LE 700,000, according to the investigation.Abdel Aaty was caught red-handed after the prosecution carried out legal procedures that allowed the police to record some of his negotiations with the companies, according to the investigation.The district head received a bribe from the three companies to halt legal procedures that had to be carried out against some of the buildings that violate the law in Al-Haram district, according to the investigation.The accused major general denied all accusations. The prosecution listened to the representatives of the three construction companies, and formally accused Abdel Aaty of receiving bribes, misusing his authority and deliberately failing to perform his duties.Also in December, General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek referred former Head of the Customs Authority Gamal Abdel Azim to the Criminal Court over misusing his powers and demanding bribes.Abdel Azim was arrested in July over accusations of receiving a financial bribe of LE 1 million from an importer of textiles in exchange for the termination of customs clearance procedures for certain imported goods.On Aug. 7, Minister of Finance Mohmed Ma’it decided to appoint Kamal Hassan Negm as head of the Customs Authority. Negm was the head of the Central Administration of the Eastern Province in the customs operations sector.Earlier in November, President Sisi met with Major General Sherif Seif el-Din, chairman of the ACA, to discuss the national anti-corruption strategy.ACA announced that its efforts during December resulted in seizing LE 12.8 billion, along with arresting 30 defendants accused of bribery and embezzlement.In a statement, ACA added that an international network of human trafficking, which included 20 Egyptian, Arab and European defendants, was uncovered earlier in December.ACA announced on the same day that a tourism company owner, a lawyer and a mechanic who claimed to be a lawyer were arrested for seizing LE 25 million using fake documents. All three defendants were arrested pending investigations.ACA stated that the three defendants managed to fabricate documents that allowed them to drop the debt of the tourism company amounting to LE 25 million at one of the private banks.In the same context, the ACA also announced that several officials of South Cairo Electricity Distribution Company and Omrania neighborhood in Giza were arrested as a result of receiving LE 200,000 as a bribe.

Source: Egypt Today December 26, 2018 09:00 UTC