CAIRO (Dow Jones)--Two officials at Egypt's state wheat buyer have been
detained by the Egyptian prosecution office as part of an investigation into
forged paperwork for a shipment of imported Russian wheat.

  The officials were bailed out after paying 50,000 Egyptian pounds each, said
the spokesperson of the Trade and Industry ministry Thursday.

  Nomani Nasr, vice chairman of Egypt's General Authority for Supply
Commodities, or GASC, confirmed that the two employees did not show up at work
for the last two days, but declined to confirm if it was due to the
investigation. He added that he had not received any official documents from
the prosecution office or the ministry calling for their suspension or
retrenchment.

  The Ministry of Trade and Industry confirmed that as a result of the ongoing
investigation, two GASC employees named Mohamed Youssef and Mohamed Farghali
were detained and bailed out after paying EGP50,000 each ($9000). The
spokesperson said that Youssef was the chief administrator of a department in
charge of imports and contracts at the authority and Farghali was an employee
there. "They are charged with violations regarding the approval of processing
the documents pertaining to the (Russian) shipment," said the spokesperson from
the ministry.

  Earlier this week, the public prosecutor ordered the arrest of Ashraf El
Attal, the chairman of private company Egyptian Traders Co., which is also
subject to the prosecution office's investigation, as the company was
responsible for delivering the Russian wheat to GASC, local media reported
Thursday.

  Egypt is one of the world's largest wheat importers. Its wheat imports have
been subject to increased scrutiny since May, when Egyptian authorities
quarantined a shipment of 52,501 metric tons of Russian wheat imported by
Egyptian Traders Co., one of the country's largest wheat importers, because it
found weed seeds and dead insects in the grain. GASC said in June that it would
cut its ties with Egyptian Traders.