Egypt: Evidence reveals 68 NGOs funded by $200mn

Prosecution Judge Sameh Abuzid in NGO foreign funding case Evidence in the NGOs illegal funding case revealed that the United States spent 1.2 billion EGP (200 million US dollars) on 68 organisations, said the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday, adding that 31 NGOs from among the 68 receiving funds had been working without a license, including the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, and the International Centre for Journalists. However, despite unlicensed work in Egypt, the organisations received 511 million EGP worth of funds last year, according to evidence revealed by Al-Ahram.
It further reported that prosecution evidence drew attention that the US and German governments increaing funding of their organisations in Egypt in the past months by 80 per cent, where every trainee in these organisations received a monthly amount up to 13,000 EGP, equivalent to 2000 US dollars.
The IRI political training director had stated, through interrogations, that he provided training on the technical aspects of campaigning for political parties’ representatives, whereas NDI’s Layla Jaafar stated that 49 Egyptian political parties received training during the past year at the American institute.
Egypt’s Intelligence noted that the foreign funding of NGOs aimed to influence the political process in Egypt and assist certain political movements, which would serve the party or country providing such funds.
In the same context, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey warned of the repercussions of the suspension of US military aids to Egypt.
Dempsey cautioned lawmakers not to cut aid to Egypt, saying such a move would be a “mistake.” He told Congress that the aid cut-off could backfire by distancing future generations of Egyptian military officers from the United States.
He also cited privileges, including over-flight rights and priority passage through Suez canal, that US aid helps ensure.