Economic Corporation of Yemen- A State within A State
Who owns the ECY? No one is sure. The ECY used to be the EMC, tasked with military procurement, and it expanded into other fields. There’s no oversight on its practices or review of its balance sheets. Yemen Herald
SANAA, 25 Oct — In a stormy session, members of parliament Sunday demanded clarification on the ownership of the Economic Corporation of Yemen (ECY), and called for investigation into claims of corruption committed by the corporation. The members refused to vote for a $21.0 million dollar loan for ECY and Trade Minister, Yahya al-Mutawakil told the assembly “the ECY is not part of my ministry and not subject to our supervision,” adding “we have our own reservations about its management and the parliament has the right to hold violators accountable.”
“I am not responsible for the problems of this corporation,” he said, urging the members to vote for the loan saying “this loan is for food security.” A number of MPs said “this corporation does not recognize the parliament, is out of any supervision, and has become a state inside a state,” adding “the ECY corporation has devoured everything. Inherited the private sector, monopolized investments, gets all sorts of tax and customs privileges, and its profit is always zero.” Last year, the ECY management refused to allow a parliamentarian committee to review its balance sheets and MPs called for an independent investigation to find out the real owner of the ECY.
