Former manpower ministers accused of embezzling LE40 million

Former ministers of manpower, Nahed al-Ashry and Kamal Abu Eita, have been accused of involvement in the embezzlement and misappropriation of millions of pounds from the ministry’s emergency labor funds during their terms in office.

Along with 20 other ministerial officials, they stand accused of misallocating nearly LE40 million (over $US 5. million) from emergency funds between 2007 and 2014.

These ministerial emergency funds are intended to assist assisting workers whose companies have stalled, who have been punitively sacked, or who have been denied their wages.

A leading figure of Egypt’s independent trade union movement since 2007, Abu Eita served as minister of manpower in the first cabinet after the military ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. He was replaced in 2014 by Ashry, widely seen as a Mubarak-era stalwart, herself replaced in September of this year.

The Public Funds Investigations Department (a financial crimes unit affiliated to the Ministry of Interior) has filed documented claims against a host of officials from the Ministry of Manpower indicating that money from the emergency labor funds was wrongfully used to pay for public servants’ promotions and bonuses.

Citing the findings of the Public Funds Investigations Department, state-owned EgyNews reported that during the course of 2014 alone, the Ministry of Manpower — under Ashry’s leadership — had misappropriated a total of LE2,360,000 for the payment of bonuses and promotions to ministerial officials and other civil servants.

EgyNews added that Ashry and one of her leading ministerial officials had returned a total of LE 190,235 to the investigating authorities.

Fifteen other ministerial officials meanwhile returned money that they had wrongfully received from the emergency labor funds. EgyNews explained that five other ministerial officials are in the process of returning money that had also been siphoned-off from the ministry’s emergency funds. The sums returned by these 20 individuals has not been disclosed.

Ashry has been under investigation on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds since September of this year. The charges go back to 2007 when Aisha Abdel Hady was minister. Ashry also served as a senior ministerial official under Abdel Hady who was minister of manpower from 2005 until the 2011 uprising.

Ashry was replaced by current minister Gamal Sorour in a ministerial reshuffle in September – when then-Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb resigned in light of corruption investigations into members of his cabinet. Agriculture Minister Salah Helal was arrested on corruption charges minutes after his resignation.

While Ashry’s predecessor, Abu Eita, also stands accused of diverting money from these emergency funds, no specific sum has been attributed to him.

Some local media outlets have reported this week that Abu Eita and his ministerial officials embezzled and misappropriated LE 20 million from the emergency labor funds.
 

Speaking to talk show host Youssef al-Husseini on ONTv satellite channel on Sunday, Abu Eita declared that he had not diverted any money from the emergency labor funds for promotions, bonuses, or any other purpose.

On this same day, he made an appearance on the talk-show hosted by anchor Wael al-Ebrashi on the Dream satellite channel in which he pledged that he was not involved in any act of embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds. Abu Eita sung a patriotic song — somewhat out of key — at the conclusion of the episode.

Speaking to privately-owned Youm7 news on Sunday, said that he would like to seek political asylum in any Arab country (other than occupied Palestine, or Qatar) but is “unwilling to leave the country to thieves who want to plunder the country.”

“There are no direct accusations or criminal claims filed against Abu Eita,” author and labor analyst Mustafa Bassiouny told Mada Masr. “But this may be part of the ongoing attack against representatives of the independent trade union movement — in attempts to tarnish his image, along with that of others in this labor movement.”

Bassiouny suggests that the move should be seen as a part of a campaign led by the leaders of the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation.

Bassiouny went on to say that Abu Eita is “being scapegoated” for the financial irregularities at the Ministry of Manpower.

Bassiouny concluded: “He is most likely not involved in these financial crimes. However, he was involved in other actions for which his is not to be commended,” he said giving the example of Abu Eita calling in the police to forcefully disperse protesting workers outside the Ministry of Manpower when he was serving as minister.