The Egyptian legislature has drawn up a package of laws governing the work of bodies and agencies working in prevention and combating corruption, as well as a legislative system that criminalizes many of the corruption crimes set forth in the UN Convention. Most importantly the following:
1.The Penal Code promulgated by Law No. 58 of 1937, as amended:
- Includes a set of legal rules governing the types of crimes and penalties prescribed for these crimes. The legislator singled out the first and second chapters of the second book of the law for crimes and misdemeanors harmful to the security of the country from abroad and from inside, the third chapter for bribery crimes, and the fourth chapter for crimes of misappropriation and aggression of public money and treachery and the sixth chapter for forgery crimes.
2.The Criminal Procedure Act promulgated by Law No. 150 of 1950, as amended:
- It is a set of legal rules governing the prosecuting and adjudicating of criminal cases in addition to the competences and duties of the investigating authorities and judicial officers, as well as cases and procedures of arrest, search and disposal of seized items. In addition, the law identifies the jurisdiction of courts and the arrangement of procedures and the ways to appeal the judgements.
3.Administrative Prosecution and Disciplinary Courts Re-regulation Law No. 117 of 1958, as amended:
- The law governing the competences of the administrative prosecution in terms of control, examination and conduct of investigations with public officials, as well as identifying the competences and types of disciplinary courts, how cases are brought before them and ways to appeal their judgements.
4.Administrative Control Authority Re-regulation Law No. 54 of 1964, as amended by Law No. 207 of 2017:
- The law governing the work and competences of the Administrative Control Authority, including examination and investigation the reasons for the shortfalls of the work, detecting the flaws of administrative, technical and financial systems and propose ways to avoid them, monitoring the implementation of laws in the government administrative body, detecting the administrative, financial and technical violations committed by the employees in the course of performing their duties or resulting thereof, in addition to the jurisdiction of uncovering and detection of crimes committed by non-employees, which aim at harming the safety of the performance of the duties of the job or the public service.
5.The Central Agency for Organization and Administration Law No. 118 of 1964, as amended:
- The law pertaining to employees of the units that make up the government administrative body, public bodies and agencies and their subsidiaries in terms of developing the level of civil service and achieving justice in the treatment of employees and ensuring the extent to which the executive agencies achieve their responsibilities in production and services.
6.Illicit Gains Law No. 11 of 1968, as amended by Law No. 62 of 1975:
- The law pertaining to the concept of illicit enrichment and its interpretation and the penalties prescribed as well as the groups that are subject to its provisions of public office holders or dealers in public funds and procedures to track their wealth to prove their legitimacy.
7.Police Authority Law No. 109 of 1971, as amended:
- The General Department of Public Funds Investigations was established by virtue of Presidential Decree No 10 of 1984 and its work and competencies were regulated by the decree of the Minister of Interior No. 167 of 1985. The Department is responsible for collecting inferences on counterfeiting, forgery, bribery offences, influence-peddling, illicit gains, embezzlement and other crimes of aggression and damage to public funds, tampering with joint stock companies' funds, cash crimes, smuggling, placement of funds and money laundering crimes.
8.Judiciary Law No. 46 of 1972, as amended:
- The law pertaining to the regulation and organization of courts and the appointment, promotion, transfer, secondment and re-assigning of judges and members of general persecution as well as their duties and disciplinary accountability, in addition to the appointment, promotion and discipline of employees in various courts.
9.State Council Law No. 47 of 1972:
- The law regulating the formation and arrangement of positions in the State Council and the identification of its competencies and types of trial (administrative/disciplinary/high administrative) and the methods of appeal, as well as the organization of the work of the Fatwa and Legislation Departments and all matters related to the promotion, transfer and discipline of its members.
10.Government Civil Employees Law No. 47 of 1978, as amended (repealed)
11.Civil Service Law No. 81 of 2016:
- The newly introduced law covering the employees of the government administrative body in terms of regulating the ways of appointment, arranging, describing and evaluating jobs, transferring and promotion of employees, and identifying ways to measure the adequacy of their performance, the ways of discipline and penalties prescribed for them.
12.Central Auditing Agency Law No. 144 of 1988, as amended:
- The law regulating the legal rules that aim to achieve control over the public money and the other public persons funds. The law identifies the competences of the Agency, most importantly, to assist the People's Assembly in performing financial control over the agencies dealing with public funds, examining and audit of the work and accounts of any party assigned by the President of the Republic, the People's Assembly or the Prime Minister for examination or audit by the Agency.
13.Leadership Positions Law No. 5 of 1991, as amended, with the repeal of any provision contrary to the provisions of Law No. 81 of 2016 on Civil Service:
- The law regulating the rules for holding leadership positions in the government, local administration units, public bodies and government agencies with special budgets, public sector bodies and their subordinates, public institutions, public sector banks and banks with a public artificial personality.
14.Tenders and Bidding Law No. 89 of 1998, as amended by Law No. 182 of 2018:
- The law regulating the purchase, sale and rental of real estate, movable property and projects as well as the implementation of supply and contracting contracts carried out by the units of the government administrative body of ministries, bodies and agencies with special budgets, local administration units and public service or economic bodies.
15.Money Laundering Law No. 80 of 2002, as amended by Law No. 36 of 2014:
- The law concerned with the rules, methods and anti-money laundering for any act that constitutes a felony or misdemeanor under the amended law, whether committed inside or outside the country, even if punishable in both countries. The perpetrator of the crime of money laundering is anyone who knows that the money is collected from an original crime.
16.Central Bank and Banking System Law No. 88 of 2003, as amended:
- The law concerned with the implementation of monetary, credit and banking policies through the issuance of banknotes, identification of their categories and specifications, management of cash flow in the national economy, control of the units of the banking system and the regulation and management of the foreign exchange market.
17.Competition Regulation and Prevention of Monopoly Practices Law No. 3 of 2005:
- The law concerned with establishing and stabilizing the rules of competition among different economic units to ensure the movement of people into and out of the market in accordance with the rules governing the market. The competition protection and prevention of monopoly practices controls markets and examines cases harmful to competition based on complaints of citizens or studies carried out by the system indicating a violation of the provisions of the law.
18.Law No. 10 of 2009 on the establishment of the General Authority for Financial Control:
- The law regulating the protection of the rights of customers in non-banking financial markets and taking the necessary actions to reduce manipulation and fraud in financial markets and licensing to engage in non-banking financial activities as well as contributing to the dissemination of financial and investment culture and awareness.
19.Law No. 106 of 2013 on prohibiting conflicts of interests of government officials:
- The law concerned with the prohibition/criminalization of conflict of interest of the government official with the public interest of the state and obliges the official to either waive the interest or leave position or public office. The legislator has entrusted the implementation of the law and the enforcement of its provisions through the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
20.Law No. 75 of 1963 on the regulation of the State Lawsuit Authority, as amended by Law No. 10 of 1986:
- The law regulating the affairs of members of the State Lawsuit Authority as an independent judicial body acting on behalf of the state in lawsuits filed by or against the government and defending with its members for public money at home and abroad.
21.Law No. 47 of 1973 on legal departments of public agencies, public bodies and their units:
- The law regulating the affairs of members of the legal departments of public agencies and public bodies, public sector companies who perform the necessary legal activities for the proper functioning of work, production and services, safeguarding the public property of the people and defending the public money of the entities within which the legal departments are established.
These laws and other Egyptian legislation almost cover the measures and criminalized actions under the UN Convention against Corruption, which is based on protecting public money and performance of public office from corruption and monitoring the tracking of funds from criminal acts, which is consistent with the approach taken by the legislator in the measures mentioned in the above list.