Court summons head of Central Auditing Authority Hesham Geneina

The Court of Appeals summoned head of the Central Auditing Authority Hesham Geneina to appear on January 18 and undergo interrogations regarding accusations of insulting the judiciary fielded against him by Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zend, local media reported.

Zend made the accusations following a television appearance by Geneina with TV host Wael al-Ebrashy in November 2014, in which Geneina questioned the integrity of investigations of charges that he faced in the past.

Ebrashy appeared in front of the court on Tuesday for questioning in the same case, on charges of giving Geneina a platform to make unfounded accusations against state actors.

During the interview with Ebrashy, Geneina denied accusations of participating in the drafting of a statement signed by 56 judges in 2013 in which they supported the Brotherhood-led Rabea al-Adaweya protests. The signatories had been referred to a disciplinary committee.

Geneina accused investigation authorities and the state apparatus of purposefully keeping this case open to tarnish his image.

This is not Geneina’s first face-off with Zend. In October 2014, Geneina was sentenced to a LE30,000 fine after being convicted of insulting Egypt’s Judges Club and then-head Zend, based on a report by the latter. The accusations were based on an interview that Geneina gave to privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm, in which he said that there is financial corruption in the Judges Club.

Geneina has reported being threatened by state actors in the past because of corruption cases that he revealed involving the Judges Club, the General Prosecutor, the Interior Ministry and other state bodies.