Egypt’s cabinet quits; ex-oil minister asked to form gov’t
Mass resignations follow the arrest of the agriculture minister as part of a corruption investigation
Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and his Cabinet resigned Saturday after coming under fire for a series of controversial statements and a corruption investigation that led to the arrest of the agriculture minister last week.
The office of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Saturday that he had accepted the resignation but that the ministers would continue to serve until a new body is appointed. Former oil minister Sharif Ismail was asked to form the new cabinet, the presidency said a short time later.
Agriculture Minister Salah el-Din Helal was detained Monday after tendering his resignation amid an investigation into allegations that he and others received over $1 million in bribes.
The Egyptian government has long been plagued by corruption allegations. El-Sissi routinely emphasizes that he is fighting corruption.
Mahlab walked out of a press conference in Tunisia earlier this week after being asked about the corruption allegations.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press
AFP contributed to this report