Egypt’s Court of Cassation rejected on Sunday the appeal of former Minister of Agriculture Salah Helal and upheld the ten-year prison sentence that was issued earlier against him.
The court ordered Helal to pay a fine of EGP 1m, and his assistant deputy, Mohey El-Din Qaddah, to pay EGP 500,000, upholding an April 2016 ruling by the Cairo Criminal Court.
Both defendants are accused of accepting bribes in exchange for land licenses while in public office.
In September 2015, the prosecution released a statement detailing the amount of money ministerial officials received as “presents” in exchange for a personal favour for a businessman.
Helal and Qaddah received various forms of bribery—notably a house worth EGP 8.25m in a residential compound in 6th of October City, EGP 230,000 worth of clothes, and travel expenses for 16 family members to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at a cost of nearly EGP 145,000 (SR 70,000) per person, according to prosecution investigations.
The minister was arrested in September 2015, after having been appointed as Minister of Agriculture in March of the same year.
