(AFP File Photo)
The Cairo Criminal Court postponed Saturday the retrial of former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to 17 May.
Nazif had been on trial on graft charges dating back to his Mubarak-era tenure.
In September 2012, the court gave Nazif a three-year prison sentence and an EGP 4.5m fine, in relation to corruption charges. Also included in the charges were his wife Mona Abdel Fattah, and sons Sharif and Khalid. However, the verdict was subsequently overturned.
Ahmed Nazif is accused of using his power to illicitly gain EGP 64m in assets, including shares in telecommunications firms. He was also accused of illicitly using an apartment in San Stefano towers, through which he ran a ‘private university’ that purported to be for public benefit, and procured government funds and private donations to the tune of EGP 25m.
Nazif became Prime Minister in 2004, and was dismissed in late January 2011 by former president Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak made the move in an attempt to calm the 25 January Revolution. Nazif was replaced by Ahmed Shafiq, but the move failed to sway the momentum of the revolution.
Corruption reached alarming levels preceding the 25 January Revolution, with many officials using their power to advance their own interests. Afterwards, many figures of the former regime were put on trial, including Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa.
However, recently many Mubarak-era figures accused of corruption have been acquitted of their charges. Mubarak and his sons, former Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly, and former Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi have all had cases of large-scale corruption against them overturned.
