Egypt's government resigns

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb tendered the Egyptian cabinet's resignation on Saturday, nearly a week after the agriculture minister was arrested over corruption allegations.

"The prime minister handed the government's resignation to the president, who accepted it," a statement from the president's office said.

Mehleb and the rest of the Egyptian cabinet were asked to continue in their capacity until Oil Minister Sherif Ismail (left) forms a new government within the week, according to the president's office.

The move follows the arrest of Agriculture Minister Salah el-Din Helal and his aides on Monday for allegedly accepting more than $1 billion (880 million euros) in bribes.

The case in question regarded the sale of government property to a businessman, who reportedly offered the minister money in exchange for approving the transaction.

Earlier this week, Mehleb stormed out of a press conference in Tunis after a reporter probed the prime minister about his involvement in another corruption case, regarding the misappropriation of funds under former President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Egypt's parliamentary elections - the last step in Egypt's democratic transition following the 2011 uprising - are expected to take place between October 17 and December 2, after being canceled in March due to a Supreme Court verdict that deemed them unconstitutional.

The elections come more than two years after former army chief President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (right) ousted the first democratically elected president in Egypt's history, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi.

The moderate Islamist group was banned and designated a terrorist organization following a military crackdown in August 2013, when more than 800 civilians were killed during the forced dispersal of two Islamist sit-ins, according to figures from Human Rights Watch.

ls/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)