The Military Economic Republic of Egypt

2021-09-30

CAIRO - After Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected president in May 2014, several amendments were made to the public procurement law that allowed the Egyptian military to further tighten its grip on the economy. The amendments helped army-affiliated companies reap the lion's share of major public contracts, including the construction of the new administrative capital in Cairo, real estate projects, highways and infrastructure, which were awarded through direct, non-competitive bidding.

This in-depth cross-border independent investigation looks at the monopoly of the Egyptian Armed Forces and the General Intelligence Directorate on government projects and public works, often charging higher prices than private companies and profiting in ways that some experts say are illegal.

The army also "plays the role of project manager by awarding projects to private sector subcontractors who have no choice but to accept the army's prices and sometimes take losses and work for free," added Sayigh, who directs the Carnegie Programme on Civil-Military Relations in Arab States.

"The army uses these projects to finance the army budget and the national budget with billions of pounds, but they don't announce it because of national security," says an Egyptian lawyer close to the Egyptian regime.

Photo credit: Daraj

Team members

Rana Sabbagh

Rana Sabbagh is co-founder of (ARIJ) and currently works for OCCRP.

Mahmoud Elsobky

Mahmoud Elsobky is an investigative reporter and documentary filmmaker based in Belgium.

Supported

€6,000 allocated on 16/10/2020

MT/2020/141

Grant

Money Trail Grants

need resources for your own investigative story?

Journalismfund Europe's flexible grants programmes enable journalists to produce relevant public interest stories with a European mind-set from international, national, and regional perspectives.

Apply