An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced former tourism minister Zoheir Garana to three years in prison for violating government decrees during his term.
Judicial sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Cairo Criminal Court has found Garana guilty of granting tourism operator licenses to close acquaintances despite government disapproval.
Egypt's public prosecution referred Garana to court in March for unlawfully enabling friends and relatives to profit from practicing tourist activities.
This is the second verdict against Garana who, with three other businessmen, received a five-year sentence in May and was fined LE293,868 million. In that case, the defendants were charged of squandering public funds through allocating and selling lands for tourism purposes for below-market rates.
