Fixed-line provider Telecom Egypt (TE) "squandered public funds" by providing its executives with extravagant bonuses in 2009 despite chalking up a significant profit shortfall for the year, according to a report issued this week by the Central Auditing Organization. The report notes that TE's 2009 net profits stood at LE2.3 billion compared to LE2.8 billion the previous year, representing a 7-percent decrease. Nevertheless, the company chairman and board members received a total of LE9.3 million in bonuses for the year, compared to LE4.1 million in 2008. TE Chairman Akil Beshir alone received LE4.2 million in bonuses for 2009, the report states, compared to LE1.1 million the year before. The report goes on to criticize the company's apparent inability to safeguard its inventory from theft, noting that company warehouses in Giza had been subject to theft several times, despite the company's expenditure of more than LE30 million on security systems. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
