adminCairo — Egypt’s former top auditor who exposed massive corruption in the country went on trial before a court in Cairo yesterday, charged with spreading “false news” and “disturbing” the country’s security.
Hisham Genena, a former judge who until recently headed the Central Auditing Organisation, is one of the highest officials of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s administration to face charges.
Last December, Genena went public, saying that corruption is costing the country billions of dollars. A pro-government daily quoted him as saying that Egypt has wasted 600 billion pounds or ($67.6 billion) in corruption in 2015 alone. He later said he was misquoted and that his remarks referred to the last four-year period.
El-Sissi dismissed Genena in March, following an investigation that concluded the auditor had misled the public.
The removal capped a series of measures critics say were aimed at sacking the chief auditor after speaking up against corruption. — AP.
derick.khumalo