Business tycoon Hussein Salem handed 10-year sentence in absentia

Alexandria Criminal Court, headed by Judge Gamal Gomaa, sentenced fugitive businessman Hussein Salem, his son Khaled, and his daughter Magda, in absentia to 10 years imprisonment in a maximum-security prison on charges of selling electricity to bodies other than the Egyptian Electricity Authority.

Four other officials at the Alexandria Oil Company were sentenced to seven years in prison, while six received one year suspended sentences and an obligatory fine of LE11 million as well as LE125 thousand to the state.

The defendants were found guilty of causing wilful damage to their employers in collaboration with the fugitives, as well as violating the law which prohibits Egyptian and foreign investors from selling electricity to bodies other than the Egyptian Electricity Authority, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

Public Prosecution had accused Hussein Salem as the Chairman of Middle East Oil Refining Company (MEDOR), his son Khaled and daughter Magda as members of the Board of Directors, as well as 10 leading figures of the Alexandria Oil Company, of approving contribution to MEDOR’s capital without taking the necessary legal actions to notify the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).  

Salem is facing an additional 37 years in jail on three separate charges relating to acquiring public property illegally, money laundering and squandering public funds.

Despite the charges, a statement made by the Egyptian government in February expressed openness to reconciliation with the gas, firearms and real estate tycoon, who currently resides in Spain, in return for returning a sum of the illegally acquired money.

Salem is also implicated in “the trial of the century,” as he stands trial along with former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Alaa and Gamal, former Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly and six of his deputies over charges of corruption and profiteering.

Salem, a founding shareholder of East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG) is accused of collaborating with EMG to profit from deals to supply Israel with natural gas from June 2008 at prices lower than the international rates.