2nd LD: Egypt's supplies minister resigns over corruption

Egyptian Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafy resigned Thursday amid sharp criticism over corruption charges related to wheat purchases and expenses.

The minister has been facing charges of using millions of dollars allocated for subsidies to purchase wheat that existed only on papers in the most populous Arab country and the world's largest wheat importer.

A parliamentarian, also a presenter of a TV show, has also been accusing Hanafy of wasting 7 million Egyptian pounds (around 800,000 U.S. dollars) in staying in a luxurious hotel in Cairo since he took office in 2014. The minister said he paid for it from his own money, not the state's.

"Experience showed that assuming an official post is no longer a privilege but a burden," Hanafy said in a statement after resignation, stressing that most of the issues raised against him were personal and exaggerated.

"I announce with all credibility and consent leaving my post so that the state can choose who will bear and continue the path of giving and reform," the ex-minister told reporters.

A parliamentary fact-finding report blamed Hanafy for the corruption related to the amount of wheat sold by farmers to the government, which is much less than the amount registered in official documents.

The fact-finding committee investigating the fraud said that over two million tonnes of wheat, about 40 percent of the locally procured five tonnes of wheat, may be missing.

The report is scheduled to be discussed in the parliament on Monday according to the chief of the fact-finding committee.

Hanafy has not been accused of directly profiting from the misallocated subsidies, yet the committee holds him politically responsible for the crisis.

The Egyptian prosecution has recently ordered detention and travel ban against 13 persons including government officials over involvement in the scandal. Endit