Egypt rejects appeal of official who revealed scale of corruption

A court in Egypt rejected an appeal by the former anti-corruption watchdog chief against a jail sentence he received for spreading “false news” regarding the state of corruption in the country.

Hisham Geneina, the former head of the Central Auditing Organisation, previously stated that corruption had cost Egypt $31.25 billion in four years.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi subsequently fired Geneina in March and appointed a fact-checking commission that later concluded Geneina had misled the public by over-estimating the scale of corruption.

Geneina has stressed that he has done nothing wrong and stated how his case was being used to discourage others from speaking out in a country which is increasingly in the grip of security agencies, according to Reuters.

A court then found Geneina guilty in July and sentenced him to a year in prison with a fine of $1,000. Ganeina appealed the decision but the court confirmed his sentence with a suspension of three years and reaffirmed the fine.

Ganeina still has the option of further appeals to the courts’ decision.

Pro-government media sources accused Geneina of being an “Islamist” due to his appointment by former President Mohamed Morsi.