Steel mogul Ahmed Ezz renounced on Tuesday the steel manufacturing license he had illegally obtained. He took the action before the Cairo Criminal Court which is retrying him on allegations of squandering public funds.
Ezz, the former secretary of Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP), had been accused of obtaining licenses for the operation of his steel plants for free from the government’s Industrial Development Authority in violation of licensing rules, causing the state to sustain LE660 million in losses, according to the petition.
Also involved in the case were IDA’s former chief Amr Assal and former Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid.
Ezz had won an appeal against an earlier verdict in December 2012, which sentenced both him and Assal to ten years and fugitive Rachid to 15 years. The ruling had also obliged Ezz and Assal to repay the value of the squandered funds and revoke the illegally issued licenses.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
