News Analysis: Egypt improves in fighting government corruption

Egypt is taking serious steps to fight administrative and business corruption throughout a well-planned strategy to eliminate graft in North Africa's largest economic power, experts said.

"The war against corruption has been very clear recently... the government has done much to reduce graft and corruption at state institutions and large firms," Saeed Lawendy, Cairo-based political expert, told Xinhua.

But putting an end to corruption in Egypt requires big efforts and long time, Lawendy said, because corruption has been part of the Egyptian culture in the past three decades.

Former president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted after large protest against his corrupt regime in 2011, has spread corruption in most of the country's institutions to an extent that makes it difficult to any government to end in a short period of time, Lawendy added.

The Berlin-based anti-corruption Transparency International Organization said in its Corruption Perceptions Index that Egypt is one of the countries showing the strongest improvements in 2014, rising five points from 2013 to score 37 out of a possible 100 points.

However, a score below 50 percent indicates a high level of perceived public corruption.

The recent anti-corruption measures in Egypt put the country at 95 out of 175 countries surveyed by the organization. In 2013, Egypt ranked 114.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries' scores can be raised by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don't respond to citizens' needs.

Egypt under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has done much to counter corruption, Lawendy said, adding that "but I still believe that Egypt's ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index is still very low."

Lawendy said that Sisi and his government should keep going in fighting corruption by adopting a strict mechanism as well as formulating anti-corruption law so as to put an end to corruption that largely harms the economic and social fabric of the country.

Sisi, who holds legislative powers in the absence of the parliament, ratified in March an amended criminal law, extending the statute of limitations for bribery and embezzlement.

"Under Sisi, many former officials from Mubarak era, including Mubarak himself and his sons, have been tried at courts over corruption and embezzlement," Lawendy said. "This proves that the Egyptian leadership is keen to fight corruption."

Lawendy also believes that the September resignation of Ibrahim Mehleb and his cabinet came as a result of a recent corruption scandal of former agriculture minister who has been forced to resign and then arrested for receiving millions of Egyptian pounds as bribe.

According to Transparency International, Egypt has a relatively strong legal framework to prevent and stifle corruption, despite the notable lack of a comprehensive anti-corruption law, freedom of information law and whistleblower protection.

However, the most important problem lies in the implementation of existing legislation as numerous institutions play a role in fighting corruption, but their lack of coordination creates confusion and overlapping responsibilities.

For Mustafa Ibrahim, member of the Egyptian Businessmen's Association, Egypt still has a serious corruption problem that is the major challenge to foreign and domestic investment and development efforts.

"The government is working to end the problem, but still it needs much to do," he said.

The investor said that bribes and gifts received by state officials are not the only form of corruption. However, he added, the government bureaucracy and sometimes the lack of proper anti-corruption laws are more harmful to the country's economy and investment efforts.

"I label bureaucracy as the worst kind of corruption. Egypt is doing a lot to attract investors, but the old laws and the government bureaucratic attitude with investors push them to search for more comfortable investment hubs, thus we lose billions of dollars," Ibrarhim said.

If the state wishes to eradicate government corruption, it has to change corruption laws as well as investment laws, which really hurdle investment in Egypt, he added. Endit