Prosecutors have heard testimony from museum consultant Ali Raafat regarding the recent theft of Vincent Van Gogh's famous "Poppy Flower" painting from Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum.
Rafaat had earlier been tasked by the Culture Ministry with preparing a proposal for the restoration of the museum and the upgrade of its security systems.
Mohsen Shaalan, head of the ministry’s arts department, meanwhile, remains in police custody pending further investigation. Prosecutors have partially attributed the theft to negligence on the part of Shalaan.
Police have so far failed to identify five people thought to have visited the museum on the day the painting was stolen. They have reportedly taken fingerprints of 30 museum staff members in order to compare them to prints found on the painting's frame and the couch on which the perpetrator is thought to have stood.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
