Ex-Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy received a sentence of 15 years in prison and was removed from office, by orders of the court, and businessman Hussein Salem was also found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in absentia.
The defendants were found guilty of harming the interests of the country and wasting public funds by selling and exporting natural gas to Israel at below market rates. Egypt lost $715 million because of the deal struck between the defendants and Israel. All of the defendants in the case were collectively fined roughly $2.5 billion.
Several members of prominent petroleum government bodies were also convicted. Mahmoud Latif Amer, ex-vice president of the General Egyptian Board for Petroleum Processing and Manufacturing, Hassan Mohammed Aql, ex-deputy head of the Egyptian Board for Petroleum and Production, and Ismail Hamid Ismail Karrara, ex-deputy head of the General Egyptian Board for Petroleum Planning, all received seven year sentences
Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim Taweela, ex-Chairman of the Egyptian Holding Company for Gas received a 10 sentence and Mahmoud Ibrahim Saleh, ex-Chairman of the General Egyptian Petroleum Board was sentenced to three years of jailtime.
