Ex-Egypt official and fugitive tycoon found guilty by Criminal Court

On Thursday, former Egyptian Minister for Petrol, Sameh Fahmy, and fugitive businessman, Hussien Salim, were founding guilty of wasting public funds in a gas deal with Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Basheer Abdul-Al, also issued sentences to five other former officials from the petrol ministry. Mahmoud Latif, Hassan Aqel and Ismail Hamed were each sentenced to seven years in prison for taking part in selling petrol to Israel at below market prices.

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Ibraheem abu-Taweela, chairman of the old Al Qabeda Oil Company was sentenced to ten years, and Ibraheem Mahmoud, chairman of the old General Egyptian Petroleum Committee, was sentenced to three years.

The public prosecution found all defendants guilty of misusing public property, wasting public funds, and helping others to illegally exploit public resources.

The public prosecution claimed that the gap between the contract and international prices has cost Egypt over $714 million in losses. This is in addition to the financial franchises given to the Hussein Salim Company which exported the gas to Israel.

All of the defendants were fined $2.035 billion and asked to return $500 million to the country’s treasury.