Egypt MP questions official's wealth after lavish, star-studded wedding: reports

An Egyptian MP on Tuesday asked his country's leadership to look into the wealth of a government official who allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a star-studded wedding, according to media reports.

Khaled Megahed, a former health ministry spokesman, celebrated his marriage last weekend at a hotel in Cairo overlooking the Nile river, surrounded by some of Egypt's most famous faces - including singers Amr Diab and Mohamed Ramadan.

The wedding - reportedly Megahed's second in the space of a year - allegedly cost up to 10 million Egyptian pounds (US$534,000), according to news reports.

Images from the wedding were widely shared by Egyptian media and social media users. Some Egyptians questioned how a government official could afford to pay for such a grand event.

MP Mohamed Saad Al-Samoudy on Sunday called for a parliamentary briefing over the extravagant wedding.

The MP said that after he submitted the request, he received messages from health ministry employees and others alleging that Megahed owned shares in private hospitals and pharmaceutical companies in Egypt.

On Tuesday, the MP asked the prime minister and the acting minister for health and population to verify whether Megahed does in fact own these shares, Egyptian news outlet Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

If true, he could be in breach of a law that prohibits government officials from profiting off of their government role.

The wedding and the subsequent outrage surrounding it comes as millions of ordinary Egyptians struggle to cover the cost of basics.

Prices of staple foods like bread have skyrocketed in recent months, in part because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Megahed was sacked from his role as health ministry spokesman last year as the Egyptian prosecution investigated allegations of widespread corruption.