Exclusive: Irregularities in the Ministry of Education, Including Unlawful Expenditures, Vehicle Allocations, and Recycling of 12.5 Million

Our source has obtained a letter from the Director of the Inspection and Follow-up Department at the Prime Minister’s Office in the Government of National Unity to the Office of the Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Affairs regarding administrative and legal violations within the Ministry of Education and Minister Mousa Al-Megreif.

The letter highlighted several financial and administrative violations, including the allocation of 2.8 million dinars, deducted from the budgets of municipal education offices for 2022 and transferred to trust and deposit accounts without the necessary documentation. The purchasing committee’s report for 2022 was altered multiple times without approval from the administrative and financial affairs department. Payments were also processed while the department director was on an emergency leave.

Additionally, the ministry’s tender committee was dissolved before completing the printing and supply project for school textbooks for the 2024/2025 academic year. The procurement platform had been inactive since January 1, 2023, with procurement decisions being made without its involvement, except for the textbook project, which was submitted under pressure from the tender committee chairman. Several financial uplift decisions were issued to various companies and entities without proper procedures.

The letter also exposed the unlawful allocation of ministry-owned vehicles, including a white Hyundai Santa Fe (license plate 5/2099957) given to the minister’s brother, Saleh Mohammed Al-Megreif, despite being listed in the 2022 Audit Bureau report as a stolen vehicle. Another Hyundai Creta (gray, license plate 5/2096696) was allocated to Mohammed Faraj Milad Al-Shamli, who has no affiliation with the ministry.

Furthermore, individuals with no official ties to the ministry were sent on official foreign missions to attend international conferences, including Mohammed Faraj Milad Al-Shamli. The minister’s brother was also appointed as Director of the International Cooperation Office despite being absent for months without authorized leave or a designated replacement, while still receiving full benefits, including housing allowances.

The letter also mentioned deliberate obstruction of legal and international cooperation office decisions within the electronic system, making it impossible to track correspondence, and a preference for specific companies in procurement deals.

Other violations included failure to complete the procurement of school desks, despite the awarding process concluding in August 2023, and delays in disbursing municipal education budgets until August 2024, even though funds were available since April 2024.

The ministry also recycled 12.5 million dinars from previous years and repeatedly assigned the same companies for procurement contracts. The minister’s advisor, Abdel-Salam Ahmed Al-Saghir, was also frequently sent on official foreign missions and assigned to sensitive committees despite being detained in a public funds embezzlement case.