A fact-finding committee has not yet reached its conclusions concerning whether certain civil society organizations have received foreign funding illegally, a judicial source has said on Monday Judge Ibrahim Abdel Khalek, Ministry of Justice spokesman, said that some of the organizations seem to have committed criminal offences. “The fact-finding committee formed by Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz al-Guindi concluded with a request for a judicial investigation due to suspicions of criminal offenses,” the state-run MENA news agency quoted Abdel Khalek as saying. He added that the issue of foreign funding is still under investigation, and that the results of this investigation will be announced once completed. Some media reports have alleged that the fact-finding committee cleared one of the organizations of charges of receiving funds illegally. On September, the Justice Ministry issued a report which accused about 30 NGOs of having committed the offense. Guindi said then that these organizations currently face charges of treason for conspiring against the country by transmitting sensitive information to foreign parties.
