Green Belt land case adjourned

Cairo’s South Criminal Court adjourned on Monday the trial of former Minister of Housing Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman to February 25, reported the official Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Suleiman and four others are facing trial on charges of profiteering and deliberately squandering LE28 million of public funds by selling large plots of land in the Green Belt area at prices well below market value.

Samir Zaki Abdel Qawy, CEO of Sixth of October Company for Reclamation and Agricultural Reconstruction, is also facing trial, along with three former heads of NUCA, Al-Shafei Suleiman al-Dakrory, Mohamed al-Araby and Leila Kamel.

The Green Belt refers to the area around the Sixth of October and Tenth of Ramadan districts on the outskirts of Cairo.

In May, the Public Funds Prosecution referred the accused to a criminal court after investigations revealed that the NUCA officials colluded with Samir Zaki Abdel Qawy to decrease prices for the land allocated to his company, MENA reported.

According to the report, the evidence relies on public funds investigations, witness testimonies, reports from the technical committees as well as the Central Auditing Agency.

Suleiman has stood trial in several cases on charges of corruption, violating tenders and auctions regulations, squandering public funds and misallocation of land. He was previously found guilty of giving government land to the Sixth of October Development and Investment Company, which has ties to former President Hosni Mubarak’s family. He has since appealed those verdicts and retrials are underway.

In related news, the retrial of Zakareya Azmy, Mubarak’s former chief of staff, continued on Monday and was also adjourned to February 25.

Azmy was previously sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of LE36 million after a court found him guilty of illicit gains worth more than LE42 million. He was found guilty of receiving monetary and in-kind gifts from state media institutions. An appeals court later ordered a retrial.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal, along with former regime officials and several business associates, have faced numerous trials of corruption and misuse of public funds, but most have been acquitted.

Last Thursday, the Cairo Criminal Court acquitted both Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, along with former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, in the case known as “the land of the pilots." Former Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq and 10 other defendants, including Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, were accused of embezzling public funds. Shafiq was the last serving prime minister under Mubarak, and was appointed to the post during the 18-day uprising.

Legal experts complain that the legal framework created by the former regime set a system that makes it difficult to deem many of their business practices illegal, thus rendering these corruption cases so far futile.