Egypt's former trade minister sentenced for seizing public funds

Rachid was tried in absentia

Egypt's new leaders continue to push on with investigations and trials of the former rulers and elites, with former trade and industry minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid the latest to fall.

Rachid fled Cairo shortly after the start of the uprising in which Hosni Mubarak, the country's former leader, was overthrown, and in a February interview, he denied any wrongdoing. Indeed, he was known as a man of probity, and many were very surprised when he was originally charged.

The court ruled that he had unlawfully seized public money from a government export develop fund. He was sentenced to five years in prison and given a fine of US$1.57 million.

While thought to be in London, Rachid's exact whereabouts are unknown, and he was tried in absentia.

Another man wanted within Egypt is Hussein Salem, one of Mubarak's closest friends, who was arrested in Spain on 14th June. Salem was head of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) company, which was set up to sell gas to Israel.

The independent daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm published leaked documents recently which showed that General Oman Suleiman, Mubarak's intelligence chief told former petroleum minister Sameh Fahmy to allocate land to EMG.

Fahmy and five other senior officials have been charged over the gas deal, and there is speculation that they might now seek to plead that they were coerced into approving the deal by the presidency. Their trial has been adjourned until 16th July.

Salem is due to stand trial on charges of corruption and illicit gain, and while Egypt would like him to be extradited, it is not clear if this can happen, as Salem has a Spanish passport. A Cairo court recently upheld an earlier decision to freeze the assets of Salem and his family.

When Salem was detained in Spain, he was with Ali Evsen, a Turkish national who owns 93 per cent of Albanian Airlines. Albanian authorities have frozen about €3 million in Evsen's bank accounts, as they suspect Evsen was laundering money on behalf of Mubarak.

Finally, steel magnate and senior official in the former ruling National Democratic Party Ahmed Ezz, who has been detained since 17th February is to face new charges of profiteering and squandering public funds.

The new charges against him include unlawfully acquiring shares in Al-Dekheila Steel, now an affiliate of Ezz Steel, between 1999 and 2001, netting illegal gains of US$115.3million. Former industry minister Ibrahim Mohammadein and five officials of al-Dekheila were also referred to court on charges of profiteering and squandering public funds.

Ezz is also being questioned on further separate charges of creating a monopoly in Egypt's steel market.

Sources: Al-Jazeera, Menas Associates

For more information, please see the Menas ACCS website, here.