International policing organisation Interpol has rejected a request by Egypt’s Prosecutor General to place former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq on the wanted persons list, according to state-owned news agency MENA.
Prosecutor General Tala’at Abdallah ordered the Offfice of International Cooperation to submit a request for Shafiq’s arrest to Interpol. This followed a judicial ruling charging Shafiq with seizing and squandering public money.
Shafiq was accused of abusing his position as Civil Aviation Minister to sell 40,000 hectares of land in Ismailia for 75 piastres per square metre as opposed to the market price of EGP 8 per square metre.
In September 2012, former prosecutor general Mahmoud Abd El-Meguid also requested that Interpol arrest Shafiq. Shafiq’s lawyer said that he had not been added to Interpol’s wanted persons list.
Shafiq currently resides in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi. Egypt and the Gulf state do not have an extradition agreement.
According to the Interpol website, there are currently 108 people wanted by Egypt. 77 are Egyptian.
