The Court of Cassation ordered a retrial Wednesday for former Presidential Chief of Staff Zakariya Azmy and former Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza over corruption-related charges, revoking their prison sentences
The Cairo Criminal Court had sentenced Azmy to seven years and fined him LE36 million for amassing illegal gains worth more than LE42 million bribes and other gifts from some state press organizations.
The Ismailia Criminal Court sentenced Abaza and businessman Amr Mansy to three years in prison, accusing Abaza of facilitating Mansy's acquisition of more than 10,000 acres of state-owned land east of the Suez Canal between 2006 and 2009.
Several former officials are slated to face retrial over corruption, graft and similar charges.
Former President Hosni Mubarak and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly also recently were granted the right to appeal a Cairo Criminal Court conviction for failing to prevent protester deaths during the January 2011 uprising.
Meanwhile, the Giza Criminal Court on Wednesday slated 9 April for a verdict in the case of former People's Assembly Secretary General Sami Mahran, who faces illicit gains charges. Witnesses from construction giant Talaat Mustafa Group had told judges that the defendant abused his post to obtain a villa at the group's Madinaty project for around LE1 million, LE3 million lower than the market price, under an agreement he would pay the remaining amount in installments over four years.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
