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Egypt's former top auditor says his trial is political

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the former head of Egypt’s Accountability State Authority, Hisham Geneina, speaks about his controversial statements on corruption that landed him a jail sentence, calling the judiciary “flawed.”
Egyptian judge Hisham Geneina, the former head of Egypt's Central Auditing Authority, the country's anti-corruption agency, talks during an interview with AFP in Cairo on June 23, 2016.
Geneina was fired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and is to stand trial facing  a charge of spreading false news and disturbing the peace that carries a potential one-year jail sentence. / AFP / KHALED DESOUKI        (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

CAIRO — Controversy erupted in Egypt earlier this year after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decision to detain and fire Hisham Geneina from his position as head of the Accountability State Authority (ASA), the country’s central auditing agency, on charges of publicizing false news and claims, based on the statement he made about corruption costs in state institutions reaching 600 billion Egyptian pounds ($68 billion) over four years.

Despite the fact that the head of the ASA has immunity by the constitution and the law, Sisi had issued a decree on July 9, 2015, granting himself the right to dismiss heads and members of regulatory organizations and independent bodies in case one of them commits actions that endanger the security and safety of the country.

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