Judge Osama al-Saidi has begun investigating complaints submitted by former MP Essam Sultan accusing Ahmed Shafiq of squandering public funds.
Saidi, who was assigned the investigation by the Justice Ministry, has dispatched a committee of experts to the Bitter Lakes district in Ismailia to inspect the land that Shafiq had allegedly allocated to the former president's sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, when he was minister of civil aviation. It is alleged that Shafiq sold the land for a price lower than its real value, which is considered a deliberate waste of public funds.
Saidi instructed the committee to measure the exact size and location of the land to determine its market value at the time it was sold, and decide whether or not it was squandered.
Parliament had referred Sultan’s complaint to the judiciary, along with the contract in which Shafiq, in his capacity as head of the Pilots Association, sold 40,238 square meters to Mubarak’s sons in 1993 for LE0.75 per square meter, while the market price at that time was not less than LE8 per square meter.
Shafiq, who lost in the presidential runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy, flew to the United Arab Emirates following the official announcement of the election results.
Besides serving as civil aviation minister under deposed President Mubarak, Shafiq was also appointed prime minister when protests erupted demanding Mubarak’s ouster in January 2011.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
