Al-Masry Al-Youm got official documents revealing that Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali made two medical trips to the US in August 14, 2008 and January 4, 2009. Every trip cost $30,000. Ghali and his escort got daily allowances reaching $8887 each. They got these allowances for two weeks in every trip. The expenses of travel by plane reached LE167,730 in the first trip and LE219,060, a total of LE395,790.
Among the documents is a copy of the Prime Minister's decree No. 34 of 2009, which was issued on last January 5. The decree says: "Having considered the Constitution and the President of the Republic's decree No. 691 of 1975 on the treatment of workers and citizens at the expense of the State, Dr. Youssef Boutros Ghali, Minister of Finance, will travel to the US for treatment at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland State for two weeks at expenses of $30,000 for treatment, in addition to the expenses of first-class air travel for him and his escort. Ghali and his escort will also get travel allowance for every night spent away from the place of treatment. The bodies concerned should abide by the decree."
The other document is a formal letter from Misr Travel, Qasr al-Nile branch, to the Ministry of Tourism. Attached to the letter is invoice number 146772 on the travel of the minister and his companion Michel Khalil Sayegh. The letter said there was no direct flight to Washington, so two tickets were booked for the minister to travel to London and then to Washington. The invoice, which was written on January 27 last, called on the Ministry of Health and Population's Department of treatment abroad to pay $219,060, the value of the tickets of travel from Cairo to London and then to Washington.
The number of days for which the minister got allowances did not mentioned in the documents, especially as they are specified by the number of nights spent outside the place of treatment.
