The retrial of former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly over charges of squandering public funds through imported car license plates was held Tuesday in Cairo Criminal Court in the Fifth Settlment.
The court had adjourned the retrial to listen to witnesses. Adly did not attend the session.
Another Egyptian court originally indicted all suspects on charges of wasting LE92 million in state funds when a German company was granted contracts to provide license plates by direct order, supplying plates at prices higher than market price and generating excessive revenues in violation of the law.
The prosecutor called for applying the most severe punishment on the defendants who denied the charges.
Cairo Appeals Court had set a 27 July date for the first session of the retrial of Nazif and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly in the same case.
The criminal court had previously given Nazif a suspended sentence of one year in prison, while Adly received 5 years in prison and former Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali 10 years in absentia.
The legal representative of German license plate manufacturer, UTSCH, also received a suspended 18-month sentence.
Nazif served as prime minister under former President Hosni Mubarak from 2004 to 2011, before resigning during the successful 25 January popular uprising against the regime.
The court also ordered Nazif's release pending investigations into other corruption charges.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
