Egypt PM tasks trade minister to temporarily hold supply ministry post

Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has appointed Minister of Trade Tarek Qabil to act as a temporary supply minister until a new minister is selected.

This comes after minister of supply Khaled Hanafy announced his resignation earlier Thursday amid criticism from MPs over recent wheat procurement, as well as the minister’s residence at a five-star hotel in Cairo.

A corruption report, delivered late last week to the speaker of parliament, concluded some 200,000 tonnes of wheat was missing at ten private storage sites visited by a fact-finding commission.

Khaled Hanafy’s resignation also comes a few days after he was criticised because it was revealed he had been staying at a five-star hotel in Cairo for the past two years.