Egypt's former top auditor charged with spreading false allegations

Egypt’s former top auditor Hisham Geneina was referred for criminal prosecution, on Thursday, on a charge of spreading false news about the cost of the country’s corruption.

MadaMasr another day, another delusion forced into the minds of Egyptians....

— Rafik (RexDeRegis) June 3, 2016

He had been under investigation by Egypt’s homeland security prosecutor since March, when President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi fired him by presidential decree without explanation.

Since taking office, Geneina, has on more than one occasion reported widespread corruption in some of Egypt’s most powerful institutions, including the police, the judiciary and intelligence agencies.

Geneina became the target of fierce public backlash from, senior officials and pro-government media, after he gave newspaper interviews alleging that corruption had cost the country 600 billion Egyptian pounds ($68 billion) over a four-year period.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information have said his removal was in direct opposition to Fattah Al Sisi’s stated goal of battling corruption in Egypt.