BAGHDAD — Egypt’s government resigned on Saturday amid a high-profile corruption scandal involving the country’s agriculture minister, state media reported.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi accepted the government’s resignation, but requested that the prime minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, preside over a caretaker Cabinet until a new one is appointed, a statement from the presidency said.
Egypt’s flagship state-run newspaper, Al-Ahram, reported that Sissi appointed Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail to form a new government as the next prime minister.
The Cabinet’s resignation comes following a week of local media reports alleging a number of ministers would be charged with corruption-related offenses. On Monday, Egyptian police arrested the agricultural minister, Salah al-Din Helal, immediately after he left the Cabinet building in central Cairo. He was detained on suspicion of taking bribes from wealthy businessmen for licenses to build on land earmarked for agriculture.
Egypt has limited land available for irrigation, and the state has sought to reclaim plots to grow food amid the country’s rapid urbanization.
Egypt’s vast bureaucracy is plagued by graft and inefficiency that have reached the highest levels of government. In May, a Cairo court sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison for embezzling state funds during his time in power.
A World Bank survey released last year said that 59 percent of Egyptian firms identified corruption as a major constraint on their operations.
