Corruption in Egypt
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Corruption laws exist in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
to
criminalize Criminalization or criminalisation, in criminology, is "the process by which behaviors and individuals are transformed into crime and criminals". Previously legal acts may be transformed into crimes by legislation or judicial decision. However, ...
extortion,
embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
and
bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
in business, but they are poorly enforced.


Corruption in the economy

Businesses with more informal connections within the government receive preferential treatment navigating through Egypt's regulatory framework, providing a disincentive for competition. An inefficient and sporadically enforced legal system and a widespread culture of corruption leave businesses reliant on the use of middlemen known as "wasta", to operate, and well-connected businesses enjoy privileged treatment.
Facilitation payment A facilitating payment, facilitation payment, or grease payment is a payment to government employees to speed up an administrative process whose outcome is already determined. Although ethically questionable, it is not considered to be bribery acco ...
s are an established part of 'getting things done', despite irregular payments and gifts being criminalized. Facilitation payments are regarded as bribery in many countries, which prevents many foreign entities from financial involvement with Egypt since they are a required part of doing business. Corruption makes the costs of both local goods as well as imports higher, decreasing the purchasing power of individuals which magnifies poverty. However, with the new 2016 Investment Law signed in March 2016 under the Minister of investment and international cooperation Sahar Nasr (government of
Sherif Ismail Sherif Ismail ( ar, شريف إسماعيل  ; born 6 July 1955) is an Egyptian engineer who served as prime minister between 2015 and 2018. He was minister of petroleum and mineral resources from 2013 to 2015. Career Ismail studied mechan ...
) under the presidency of
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...
, the business scene has seen more flexibility. The law aims to reduce stifling bureaucracy in order to attract more investors, which has seen growth in investment in Egypt.


Corruption in the government

On
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...
's 2022
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...
, Egypt scored 30 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Egypt ranked 130th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), and the worst score was 12 (ranked 180).


Attempts at reform

Historically, the gap between legislation and enforcement has hampered the government's efforts to fight corruption.


Mubarak

Prior to the 2011 revolution, critics agreed that corruption in Egypt was widespread and that anti-corruption measures were perceived to be mere cosmetic changes serving Mubarak's political agenda. However, in the last year of president
Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
's 30 years presidency, on 2010, the "National coordination committee for combatting Corruption" has been created but been amended by a Prime Minister decree (No 493) signed by PM
Ibrahim Mahlab Ibrahim Roshdy Mahlab ( ar, إبراهيم رشدى محلب  ; born 8 May 1949) is an Egyptian politician who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1 March 2014 until 19 September 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Housing. Career Ma ...
on 2014 to provide justice and equality and equal opportunities.


Al-Sisi

In terms of enforcement, more happened under the Sisi regime with one highly publicized case of a judge who was accused of corruption and arrested the moment he resigned from his position. The judge committed suicide very soon thereafter. Under the presidency of
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...
, many attempts to arrest public figures accused of different forms of corruption have erupted, including ones against main
governorate A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either State (administrative division), states or province, provinces, the term ''govern ...
s' governors, as well as hospital directors. In 2014, as the first move for the president, a council of combating corruption was created and headed by the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, during which high-profile officials get to review developments in the area of reducing corrupt practices.


See also

*
Crime in Egypt Crime in Egypt is moderate, but still occurs in various forms. ''Bureau of Consular Affairs'' Forms of crime include drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, corruption, black marketeering etc. Current crimes White-collar crime, smugglin ...


References


External links


Egypt Corruption Profile
from the
Business Anti-Corruption Portal The Risk & Compliance Portal (formerly The Business Anti-Corruption Portal) is a powerhouse for business anti-corruption information offering tools on how to alleviate or reduce risks and costs of corruption when doing business abroad. All the inf ...
{{Egypt topics
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
Crime in Egypt by type Politics of Egypt