EGYPT’S former top anti-corruption auditor Hisham Genena went on trial in Cairo yesterday charged with spreading “false news” and disturbing the country’s security.

Mr Genena, a former judge who until recently headed the Central Auditing Organisation, is one of the highest officials to face charges.

He went public last December, saying that corruption was costing the country billions, with £46.3 billion lost to corruption in 2015 alone.

He later claimed to have been misquoted, clarifying that his remarks referred to the last four-year period.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi sacked Mr Genena in March after an investigation that concluded that the auditor had misled the public.

The removal capped a series of measures that critics say were aimed at punishing the chief auditor for speaking up against corruption.