CAIRO, June 12 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s House of Representatives approved on Sunday the appointment of Hisham Abdel Salam Badawi to replace Hisham Geneina as the new head for the Central Auditing Agency.

According to state-run MENA news agency, Badawi won 329 votes out of 596 parliament members. 

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a presidential decree in March to sack Geneina after the then-head of the CAO told Egyptian media outlets that governmental corruption, between 2012 and 2015, amounted to EGP 600 billion (around $67 billion).

The CAO, which was formerly headed by Geneina, is an independent legal entity that monitors financial institutions and government bodies and falls directly under the jurisdiction of the presidency.

Geneina said then that his statements were based on findings of a detailed study conducted by the CAO.

Following Geneina’s statements in December 2015, Sisi ordered that a fact-finding committee be formed to probe the corruption allegations.

The committee, which included representatives from the ministries of justice, interior, planning and finance, had concluded that the then top auditor's statements and the CAO’s study were “inaccurate”, “exaggerated” and lacked "credibility".

The newly appointed CAO head was Geneina’s deputy and was part of the committee formed to investigate the corruption allegations.

Prior to his appointment as Geneina’s deputy, Badawi served as head of Cairo appeals court and was the former attorney general of the supreme state security prosecution.

Last month, Geneina appealed the president's decision to remove him from office. Lawyers representing Geneina stated that Sisi's decision to dismiss Geneina was unconstitutional and illegal, and requested that it be suspended.