Egypt: ministry of agriculture official arrested for corruption

The Egyptian authorities this week arrested the chairman of the agricultural development bank and the secretary of the ministry of agriculture Youssef Abdul Rahman on charges of receiving bribes. Abdul Rahman is considered the second man in the ministry after minister Youssef Wali.

Egyptian official sources said that Abdul Rahman (44 year old) was taken into custody for 15 days from investigations from a luxury villa he owns in Alexandria.

The sources said that investigators at the monitoring administration were following up the telephone calls he used to make with a French sides as an agent for a French company that imports agricultural pesticides for the Egyptian government.

The sources added that Abdul Rahman together with other three including the French citizens have been investigated after it was found out that Abdul Rahman gave the pesticides imports operation rights to the French company in return for bribes and commissions.

Abdul Rahman also occupied the post of the chairman of the agricultural bourse which is responsible for defining prices of crops in Egypt.

However, the agricultural credit bank in Egypt is considered the fifth largest government bank and belongs to the ministry of agriculture and is not under the supervision of the central bank. This agricultural bank is also responsible for providing loans to farmers and the distribution of pesticides and seeds.

These acts of arrest fall in the course of a series of similar acts that recently targeted high ranking officials, ministers and former members of parliament launched by the Egyptian government recently against corruption and to attract foreign investments.