Egypt's parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of appointing Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh as the new supply minister days after the previous minister Khaled Hanafy resigned amid a controversy over corruption within the ministry.
The new minister is a former army general who previously headed the army's Public Service Authority.
Hanafy resigned late August amid allegations that ministry officials pocketed funds slated for wheat subsidies, as well as questions over Hanafy’s two-year residence at a five-star hotel in Cairo.
Following Hanafy's resignation, the parliament voted in favor of an investigation by the prosecution against the former minister for squandering public funds and legal accountability for corruption in the ministry.
Prosecutors are currently investigating a number of supply ministry officials on charges of embezzling government money earmarked for the purchase of 222,000 tonnes of wheat from local farmers.
