The New Cairo Court set on Tuesday the date for the final verdict on Hesham Geneina's trial for 28 July. The former top auditor and former head of the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) is accused of spreading false information and misleading the public. The case started when a local newspaper published falsified statements attributed to Geneina about the size of financial corruption in the public sector. Geneina had stated that wasted public funds amounted to EGP 600bn from 2012 to 2015. Youm7 had reported that he was referring to only 2015. Geneina accordingly filed a lawsuit against Youm7. The verdict of that case might affect the case raised against Geneina for publishing false news. Following the statements which were first published in the news in December, the Egyptian presidency denied "press reports" and ordered investigations into the claims. Al-Sisi issued a decree in July 2015 giving him the power to dismiss, replace, and appoint heads of regulatory bodies, despite the Constitution guaranteeing their independence from the state's executive branch. Al-Sisi applied this decree in March 2016 and removed Geneina from his position at the CAO. His dismissal was preceded by a "fact finding" mission ordered by the president to look into the accuracy of his claims. The committee concluded that Geneina's claims were inaccurate, and accused him of collecting and withholding important documents on corruption. The committee concluded that Geneina misled the public, lacked credibility, and exaggerated the numbers lost over corruption.
