Former Egyptian Ambassador to Poland detained

The former Egyptian Ambassador to Poland has been detained in Cairo after corruption allegations made against him involving a land deal in the Polish capital.

The man is accused of accepting bribes to the tune of a million zloty in transactions connected with a land deal. Polish lawyers who oversaw the sale have also been detained.

Warsaw police announced that a Warsaw-based lawyer was hired by the former Ambassador to broker the deal. “The task was carried out by Jacek M.’s office who worked together with Tomasz C.. They bought the land through a middle man who then sold it on to the embassy for an inflated price,” says Dorota Tietz, spokesperson for the Warsaw police.

The Egyptian embassy took a loss of 1.42 million euros, added Tietz, explaining that, after the transaction, Jacek M. paid then-ambassador one million zloty (about 330,000 euro).

Both lawyers have been detained in Poland for up to three months. If convicted, they face up to ten years in prison and a heavy fine.

The Egyptian Embassy in Warsaw to thenews.pl, Monday morning, that the matter refers only to the former Egyptian Ambassador, Yehya Erlamlawaya, and a deal brokered in 2007.

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