Senior Egyptian judicial officer charged with bribery suicides in detention

A senior Egyptian judicial officer accused of bribery suicided on Monday while in custody, state-owned Ahram Online news website reported.

A judicial source confirmed that the former Secretary General of Egypt's State Council Wael Shalaby suicided in jail.

Shalaby was arrested on Sunday and given a four-day detention pending investigation over his bribery charge.

The officer resigned on Saturday, days after a purchase manager at the State Council was arrested and charged with receiving bribes worth millions of Egyptian pounds.

In two separate cases in November, the Egyptian authorities arrested and sacked two senior judges, one over possession of 68 kilograms of hashish drug and another over accepting a large bribe to acquit a defendant in a drug smuggling case.

source: Xinhua