July 6, 2009
Egypt state wheat buyer under investigation
Egypt''s state wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, or GASC, is being investigated for its involvement in imported wheat that didn''t meet Egyptian specifications, an official at the state prosecutor''s office said Thursday (July 2).
GASC says there is an investigation regarding imported wheat but said it is no longer being questioned.
A source at the state prosecution office said the investigation of GASC was an ongoing, criminal one that started alongside the criminal investigation of Egyptian Traders Co. in late May.
Nomani Nasr, undersecretary of GASC''s vice chairman, told Dow Jones Newswires, "The investigation is an ordinary investigation. It was not categorized as criminal, civil, or commercial."
But, "GASC has not been investigated for around a month," Nasr said, adding that the investigation on the imported wheat was ongoing, but no longer with GASC.
As the state wheat buyer, GASC tenders for wheat on the international market and receives bids from local and international companies who buy the wheat, import it for delivery contracted to GASC, and get paid by GASC for it.
Hisham Ragab, assistant minister of trade for legal affairs at Egypt''s Ministry of Trade and Industry, said in early June that the state prosecution office had been for three weeks investigating whether documents submitted by Egyptian Traders Co. on imported wheat were forged.
"Under the same order, an investigation was conducted with the concerned authorities at GASC," said the source, who declined to be named. "There is a defect in their work, obviously," he said.
"This is a criminal investigation, but it may not yield a criminal result," the source said.
"Every party involved in supervision and regulation is being investigated for shortcoming. That shortcoming may be criminal, but it also just may be an administrative violation, or negligence, or gross negligence," he said.
GASC has been able to tender for wheat despite the investigation, Nasr said. "If some problems arose around one deal, that does not stop GASC from continuing to provide the country''s needs," he said.
Egypt is one of the world''s largest wheat importers. Its imports have been at the centre of controversy since May, when Egyptian authorities quarantined a shipment of 52,501 tonnes of Russian wheat imported by Egyptian Traders Co., one of the country''s largest wheat importers, because it found weed seeds and dead insects in the grain.
