Former minister of agriculture Salah Helal was arrested Monday hours after he resigned from his position in the cabinet.
State media reported that Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb met with Helal early Monday and accepted his resignation. A cabinet statement said that the resignation was presented “on orders of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi”.
Helal was arrested in Tahrir Square. State media added that the General Prosecution issued the arrest warrant.
Currently, the prosecution is investigating a major case of corruption in the ministry, which a media gag was enforced upon.
Similar incidents of corruption allegedly took place in the Ministry of Agriculture. In an official statement in mid-August, Helal himself announced he has referred senior leaders at the Land Reforms Authority to the prosecution on charges of seizure of public funds.
Non-governmental organisation Partners of the Foundation for Transparency (PFT) announced in a report on Sunday that 104 incidents of corruption occurred in August 2015.
The latest figures reported by the PFT marked a 46% rise from the previous month. The report is based on corruption cases detected by the media, regulators and concerned authorities.
