CAIRO — Amid fierce criticism from parliamentarians and the media, Egyptian Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy announced his resignation in a press conference Aug. 25. His departure comes following accusations of corruption regarding wheat supply and of wasting public funds, estimated by the public prosecution at more than 500 million Egyptian pounds ($56.3 million). Financial subsidies provided to Egyptian wheat-producing farmers were allegedly stolen and low-price wheat was supplied instead of Egyptian wheat, in addition to allegations that quantities of wheat were falsely reported as being supplied.
In this regard, the fact-finding commission investigating corruption in Egypt’s wheat supply submitted its final report to parliament Aug. 25 and accused Hanafy both politically and legally of corruption and manipulation of the wheat system. The wheat deficit reached 559.7 million Egyptian pounds based on the commission’s field visits to silos. Accordingly, the commission, which began its work July 2, decided to refer the entire report to the public prosecutor and the Illicit Gains Authority for investigation.