Cairo Criminal Court, held in the Fifth Settlement, decided on Tuesday to set 26 February for the sentence hearing in 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.
Nazif said in his defense on Tuesday before the court that he only agreed to the project to save the country from terrorist attacks using stolen vehicles, and his consent to the deal came after consulting his advisors.
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 criminal court had previously given Nazif a suspended sentence of one year in prison, while Adly received five 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.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
