Egypt's central public watchdog ablaze, its head decides on temporary closure

A fire broke out at the Central Agency for Accounting, amidst growing concerns about the possible destruction of evidence of corruption by former regime officials

A fire has broken out in the headquarters of the Central Agency for Accounting (CAA) in Heliopolis, Cairo, according to eyewitnesses at the site.
The blaze took place on the floor which holds the office of the chairman Gawdat El Malt. All documents are said to be safe.
El Malt decided to shut the headquarters of the public sector watchdog for an unspecified period of time because of “the lack of sufficient protection for the apparatus from the elements of the counter-revolution and allies of the former regime who aim at hindering the Agency from its task in revealing corruption,” MENA, the state-run news agency reports.
El Malt told MENA that a “deviant and mislead group of protestors who launched today a demonstration against the chairman and the employees” are behind the fire.
El Malt is under fire from many of his employees who urge him to quit for being part of Mubarak's ousted regime, and have kept silent for many years about corruption cases.
They staged many protests throughout the past week, demanding full independence of the ACC, which now reports to the country's president and is tasked with checking his integrity.
The fire has spread waves of panic among the Egyptian Twitter-sphere, amidst concern that the documents proving corruption of ex-regime members might vanish.
Two days earlier, another fire broke out on the seventh floor of the Mugamma building which overlooks Cairo's Tahrir Square and holds the offices of the Public Money Prosecution, giving rise to speculation that arson is being used to cover up evidence of corruption.