Fifteen former members of parliament have returned about 400 acres of illegally-acquired land to the state. The MPs are said to have abused their positions in the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak in order to illegally acquire land.
The former MPs underwent a week of questioning and were presented with documents proving their involvement in the illegal seizure of state land under former Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza.
The prosecution offered the defendants the option of returning the land in exchange for freedom from criminal prosecution.
Last week, 20 other former MPs returned 675 acres to the state, bringing the total area of returned land to 1175 acres.
The questioning of former minister Abaza revealed that he had agreed to allocate 1067 acres of state-owned land to 146 MPs in violation of the law. According to investigations, other MPs asked the minister to provide land for the relatives as well.
A judicial source said that the returned land will be offered for sale in a public auction, and that the defendants will be allowed to bid for the land they returned.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
