The Red Sea branch of the Administrative Control Authority started yesterday putting together the investigations into the irregularities in the importation of corrupt Russian wheat. The Public Prosecutor has decided to re-export this wheat as it is unfit for human consumption and to single out the people and the bodies responsible for their importation. This paves the way for the violators to be tried. Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that the investigations will involve officials at the authority concerned with exports and imports, health quarantine and food control.
The Authority sent a team to the C Bird; a boat carrying 56,000 tons of wheat imported from Russia through the Egyptian Traders Company. No decision has been made to inspect this company since the boat arrived on May 9. The investigating team is formed by the Food Supply Investigation Bureau in the governorate, the agricultural quarantine and Al-Sawami' Company. The team has obtained copies of the documents and the papers concerning the import. They revealed that the importing company has received the entire value of the wheat ($ 11 million) and that the imported wheat was of the same quality as the one that the Public Prosecutor has decided to re-export. The team has unveiled a large quantity of living insects in the wheat as it had been shipped for a month without being unloaded. The shipment is due to be fumigated in order to kill the insects before it is put into a silo so that it can be re-exported as decided by the Public Prosecutor. Ahmed Dabas, General Director of the Supply Investigation Bureau, said the arrival of this wheat (2,750 tons) from Assiut had been supervised by the Bureau. Agricultural quarantine officials in Safaga warned that the second shipment might rot and be invaded by insects and weevils as well because of high temperatures and humidity.
