Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah has removed the names of 10 former regime figures from the travel ban and airport watch lists, after each of them paid the value of gifts they received from Al-Ahram between 2006 and 2011.
The officials include former People’s Assembly Speaker Ahmed Fathy Sorour, former Health Minister Hatem al-Gebaly, former Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils Moufeed Shehab, former People’s Assembly Secretary General Samy Mahran, former Director of Sorour’s office Youssry al-Sheikh, former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s secretary Mohamed Samy Saad, former Presidential Secretary Abul Wafa Hussein Rashwan, writer Abdallah Kamal and Chairman of Dar al-Tahrir Ali Ahmed Hashem.
A judicial source said the measure is temporary until investigations on the so-called ‘Ahram gifts’ case are concluded.
Former Shura Council Speaker Safwat al-Sherif, Sorour and four other officials paid around LE5 million for the gifts they received, while the amount the rest paid was unknown. The Public Prosecution had originally named 26 people who had their assets frozen and were placed on travel ban lists pending investigations.
On Saturday, the Public Prosecution opened investigations into former President Hosni Mubarak for wasting public money by receiving expensive gifts and abusing his capacity as president by receiving gifts allocated for a newspaper promotion.
Edited translation from MENA
