Egypt Country Profile

Environment, Natural Resources and Extractive Industry

Business Corruption

Several corruption cases have marred the Egyptian oil and gas industry. Egypt Oil & Gas Web Portal reports that in 2007, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) was hit by a bribery and information leak case, when six EGPC officials were convicted on charges of releasing secret information to clients and giving them special facilitations in EGPC bids in return for money and gifts. Several other oil and gas companies have been involved in corruption cases, for example Petrogas that was investigated for importing foul gas valves or Al-Nasr Petroleum Company and Petroleum Marine Service Company that both saw top-officials charged for being paid LE 2 million bribes by companies as kickbacks for information on pricing lists in bids or the acquisition of contracts.

Political Corruption

According to the online newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly, the Ministry of Agriculture has had several high-profile corruption scandals involving the former Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali and several of the Ministry's officials. The corruption cases covered misappropriation of public funds, falsification of documents and import of illegal pesticides.