Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Nazif sentenced to 5 years in prison, LE53 million fine

In a rare occurrence, a leading member of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, was sentenced to prison on Wednesday. Finding him guilty on charges of corruption and illicit profiteering, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the Mubarak-era minister to five years imprisonment, and a fine of LE53,353,130. The court also ordered the ex-prime minister to return the sum of LE48,610,000 to state coffers.

Judicial sources confirmed that Nazif had resorted to the Cairo Criminal Court in an appeal against a previous court verdict – of three years imprisonment, plus a fine of LE 9 million – issued against him in September 2012.

The first criminal charges filed against Nazif date back to December 2011, when the state’s Illicit Gains Authorities moved to refer Nazif, his wife Zeinab, and their sons Sherif and Khaled, to trial, after investigations linked them to the illegal accumulation of wealth – amounting to LE64 million – which was said to be amassed from public funds. 

The Illicit Gains Authority had found that Nazif had exploited his political immunity and his post as chief of government to unlawfully accumulate wealth far beyond his allotted income. Moreover, this state authority found that Nazif had facilitated the employment of his wife and two sons in influential positions, and had also facilitated their receipt of hefty and unwarranted bonuses.

The Illicit Gains Authority also found that during his six years as prime minister, Nazif had received “gifts” from governmental institutions, amassed land, real estate and fortunes which were neither accounted for, nor included in his financial statements and tax documents.

Nazif, who had served as prime minister from July 2004 to January 2011, was sacked along with his cabinet on Mubarak’s orders on January 29, 2011, in an attempt to appease Egyptian masses which had risen-up against his regime on January 28 of that year – a day know as the “Friday of Rage.”

Currently 63 years old, the ex-prime minister has faced a number of trials since Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011. However, Nazif and Mubarak’s long-time interior minister, Habib al-Adly, were both acquitted of corruption charges in February of this year in association with the “License Plates” case, in which the two ministers had been accused of unlawful profiteering and squandering public funds amounting to LE92 million.

Citing judicial sources, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Nazif was not present during Wednesday’s court session. AP added that Nazif still maintains the right to seek a retrial, through which his lawyers may strive to overturn this latest sentence against him.