(AFP Photo)
A misdemeanour court decided Saturday to postpone the trial of steel monopolist and former National Democratic Party secretary-general Ahmed Ezz on charges of tax evasion to 15 February.
Ezz stands accused of not paying EGP 10.68m worth of taxes for his two companies, Ezz Group Holdings and Ezz Al-Dekheila.
He was released on bail from jail on 4 August after standing trial for two separate cases over three years since the 25 January Revolution.
While Ezz first received a cumulative sentence of 60 years in prison for all of his cases, all of his appeals have been accepted.
Ezz paid his first instalment of an EGP 100m monopoly fine on 2 August, with the rest set to be paid over nine month instalments.
The first case he faced was for the illegal acquisition of EGP 6.4bn in business deals related to his Ezz El-Dekheila steel plant. In the second case, Ezz was accused of illegal sales of steel licences.
Ezz was also accused of orchestrating the rigging of the 2010 parliamentary elections, which gave Hosni Mubarak’s NDP, mostly comprised of businessmen, a 99% majority. He is also the former chairman of Ezz Steel, the largest steel complex in the Middle East, and has long been accused of monopolising the steel market.
