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The Doctors’ Syndicate responded to allegations previously lodged against them by the Central Auditing Organisation in a press conference on Sunday.
Khairy Abdel Dayem denied that the syndicate’s general assembly had exhibited any illegal misappropriation of funds and its report did not implicate its treasurer at the time, Essam Al-Erian, or anyone else for misusing public funds.
The syndicate claimed that the Central Auditing Organisation had handed its report over only an hour before the general assembly convened on Friday, not giving them enough time to respond to allegations contained in the report.
At the press conference the doctors claimed that the previous deficit in the syndicate’s budget was due to decreasing revenue in the face of constant expenditures, rather than any sort of fraud by the syndicate’s board members.
“There is a deficit, but this doesn’t translate into embezzlement,” said Ahmed Lotfy, spokesperson and board member for the syndicate. “The syndicate’s resources were smaller than usual [in 2011] because of the revolution,” he added, noting that expenses remained relatively constant during that period.
The syndicate’s general assembly convened on Friday, and the Central Auditing Organisation presented a report alleging the syndicate’s total deficit amounted to more than EGP 1.5 million. The report also said that parts of the deficit were illegally moved to different accounts.
Al-Erian released a statement on Friday night saying: “I dare any thief or liar to falsely claim anything related to my performance as the treasurer of the General Doctors’ Syndicate.” He went on to say he would pursue legal action against those falsely spreading news and that Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud was following the situation.
