Egypt’s Public Prosecution ordered 4-day detention of two officials from the Matrouh governorate’s Dabaa municipality, on Wednesday, pending investigations over bribery charges.
The investigations revealed that the officials are accused of requesting and taking cash and in-kind bribes from a real estate company, as well as tampering with an electrical meter at a North Coast tourist village.
The real estate official filed a report on the incident with Egypt’s Administrative Control Authority (ACA). The report included that the Dabaa officials requested an estimated EGP 400,000 in bribes, in addition to being allowed extended use of a chalet at a North Coast resort.
The ACA said it had arrested the officials on bribery charges, with the incident marking the latest in a number of arrests of state officials on similar charges.
In a statement on Tuesday, the regulator said it had “caught red-handed” the head of the municipality’s engineering department and a legal researcher receiving EGP 500,000 in bribes from a El-Nasr Housing & Development Company representative. The bribe was in exchange for services related to a resort managed by the company on the North Coast.
The defendants took the bribe in exchange for issuing a notice from the Dabaa municipality to the Al-Beheira Electricity Company, approving a change in the resort’s electricity meter from a construction-based meter to a permanent one.
Earlier this week, the authority arrested the head of the Old Cairo district for allegedly accepting a EGP 400,000 ($21,160) bribe from a garbage collection contractor. The bribe was given in return for maintaining a contract with several contractors and allowing them to receive late financial dues.
The ACA is the state body responsible for enforcing laws and regulations within state bodies, and has been waging a national campaign against corruption in recent years.
