Egypt’s supply minister accused of billing state for 2-year hotel stay amid wheat scandal

During the airing of his talk show "Haqa'eq wa Asrar" (Truths and Secrets) on Sada al-Balad satellite channel on Friday, member of parliament and journalist Mostafa Bakry accused Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy of misusing public funds to pay for a 2-year stay at a Cairo hotel.

Bakry alleged that the minister has racked up a LE7 million bill at the 5-star InterContinental Cairo Semiramis for a 2-year stay from February 2014 to August 2016.

"If one night in the suite costs LE10,000 and the minister's salary is LE30,000 per month, who is paying?" Bakry asked, promising that he would challenge the minister to answer these questions in parliament.

The ministry was quick to respond with an official statement denying any wrongdoing, and explaining that the bill for the minister’s stay at the hotel was paid for out of his personal funds.

Bakry’s allegations come amid an unfolding wheat scandal that is alleged to involve the loss of billions of Egyptian pounds, and was due to be submitted to the speaker of the House on Sunday. There has been speculation that Hanafy may either be forced to resign or will face a vote of no confidence by his fellow ministers after a report is submitted to parliament.

The scandal has been ongoing since July, when a parliamentary fact-finding committee, of which Bakry is deputy, began a probe to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption in Egypt’s domestic wheat supply chain.

During one of a series of field visits to wheat silo storage facilities, the committee found that 20,000 tons of wheat had been held in a non-existent storage facility, a fabricated supply that reportedly cost the state around LE55 million in subsidies.

Hanafy has increasingly come under fire by his fellow MP’s for mismanaging ministry officials responsible for overseeing one of the country’s most crucial commodities. More recently he has been accused of directly profiting from the ministry’s incompetence.

The minister has continually downplayed the extent of corruption within the sector and boasted about the success of a program he oversaw that updated the country’s subsidy distribution system, requiring citizens to use smart cards instead of procuring bread from government subsidized bakeries.

In an interview on Saturday on the Sada al-Balad channel, Hanafy responded to Bakry’s allegations regarding his hotel expenses, saying that where he chooses to stay is a private matter, and that he realises it is his responsibility to confirm to the public that state funds were not used for this purpose.