Due to his having fled the country, the Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday postponed until 25 June the trial of former minister of trade and industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid. He is charged with profiteering, illegally acquiring money from the Export Development Fund, and willfully squandering public money.
The defendant was not officially notified of the date of the session and remains outside Egypt.
Rachid is charged with making illegal profits of LE9.5 million through his partnership in five companies, which he entered into as minister of trade and chairperson of the Export Development Fund.
According to investigations, in his official capacity as chairperson of the Export Development Fund, Rachid extended a program to bolster food exports and approved two programs to support exports of chemicals and cosmetics, which allowed certain companies operating in those fields to withdraw money from the fund. Because of his stake in the companies, Rachid made a profit of LE9.5 million as a result of the transactions.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
