August 7, 2009

Two officials at Egypt's state wheat buyer have been detained by the Egyptian prosecution office as part of an investigation into forged paperwork for a shipment of imported Russian wheat.

The officials were bailed out after paying 50,000 Egyptian pounds (US$9,038.32) each, said the spokesperson of the Trade and Industry ministry Thursday (August 6).

Nomani Nasr, vice chairman of Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities, or GASC, confirmed that the two employees did not show up at work for the last two days, but declined to confirm if it was due to the investigation. He added that he had not received any official documents from the prosecution office or the ministry calling for their suspension or retrenchment.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry confirmed that as a result of the ongoing investigation, two GASC employees named Mohamed Youssef and Mohamed Farghali were detained and bailed out after paying EGP50,000 each. The spokesperson said that Youssef was the chief administrator of a department in charge of imports and contracts at the authority and Farghali was an employee there. "They are charged with violations regarding the approval of processing the documents pertaining to the (Russian) shipment," said the spokesperson from the ministry.

Earlier this week, the public prosecutor ordered the arrest of Ashraf El Attal, the chairman of private company Egyptian Traders Co., which is also subject to the prosecution office's investigation, as the company was responsible for delivering the Russian wheat to GASC, local media reported Thursday.

Egypt is one of the world's largest wheat importers. Its wheat imports have been subject to increased scrutiny since May, when Egyptian authorities quarantined a shipment of 52,501 tonnes of Russian wheat imported by Egyptian Traders Co., one of the country's largest wheat importers, because it found weed seeds and dead insects in the grain. GASC said in June that it would cut its ties with Egyptian Traders.

US$1 = EGP5.53 (Aug 7)