Cairo University spokesperson Fathy Abbas announced on Saturday that former prime minister Ahmed Nazif will return to teach at the university after being acquitted in the ”Illicit gains” case, according to state-run newspaper Al-Ahram.
The minister was previously suspended from teaching in the faculty of engineering, in accordance with the Civil Service law which stipulates that any employee accused in a criminal case must be dismissed. At the time of his dismissal, the minister was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence in the case.
On 9 August, the Giza Criminal Court decided to lift the travel ban and unfreeze the assets of Nazif and his family. This came after Nazif’s defence lawyer, Wageeh Abdel Malak, filed a request following the acquittal of the former from all charges in early May.
Nazif was charged with exploiting his position to make illicit gains while he held the position of prime minister during former president Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
In July 2015, the court sentenced Nazif to five years in prison and a fine of EGP 4.5m, before he appealed the court ruling. The court also declined the case filed against his deceased wife.
The court had earlier stated that it was not “confident” in the documentation filed by the Administrative Prosecution and the Public Funds Investigative Authority, as several documents contradicted one another.
In October 2015, Egypt’s Illicit Gains Authority started receiving applications from figures affiliated with Mubarak to reconcile with the state by paying back the money they had illicitly gained, in return for dropping the charges against them. Then justice minister Ahmed Al-Zind said this is the only way to retain frozen assets and money that was smuggled abroad during the Mubarak era.
