Former Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and several former Agriculture Ministry officials were referred to the Cairo Criminal Court on Monday on charges of corruption relating to the illegal sale of land.
Among those officials facing charges are former Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali, Mahmoud Abdel Bar, head of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Urbanization Department, Ahmed Abdel Fattah, advisor to the minister of agriculture, and two other officials of the ministry. Also accused are fugitive business tycoon Hussein Salem and his son Khaled.
The officials are charged with allocating a plot of land in Bayadiya, in Luxor, by direct order to Hussein Salem for LE9 million, despite its apparent value of LE209 million, which is considered misappropriation of public funds.
In addition, the land was a natural reserve, and therefore not legally available for sale.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
