Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Hussein Farid, postponed on Tuesday the trial of former interior minister Habib El-Adly and 12 ministry officials, who are accused of illegal possession of ministry funds, to 18 October. This postponement comes in order to examine the report of the committee assigned to review the case papers.
In August 2015, the director of investigation from the department of justice had referred El-Adly and 12 of his colleagues to the criminal court for charges of embezzling EGP 2.388bn while holding their positions.
El-Adly is accused of abusing his public office to approve decisions that rewarded officers and senior officials from the budget of the Interior Ministry. He is standing trial with 12 former ministry officials in a case of embezzlement of public funds.
El-Adly, who served as interior minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, continues to stand trial, known as the Ministry of Interior corruption case. Since 2012, he has been charged with embezzling public funds, graft, money laundering, killing protestors during the 25 January Revolution, and attaining illicit gains estimated at EGP 530m.
After the 25 January Revolution, many ministry officials were arrested; however, due to the lack of criminal evidence, the court dismissed charges against at least 80 defendants in January 2016, lifting travel bans and returning assets that had been frozen.
