The Court of Cassation will decide on Tuesday whether to uphold the prison sentence for former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, who were found guilty of embezzling state funds in the “Mubarak mansions” case.
Mubarak was sentenced to three years in prison last May, while his sons Gamal and Alaa were both sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling over LE100 million in state funds. The Mubarak family had reportedly invested the money in several private homes.
The defendants were also fined LE125 million, and were ordered to return another LE21 million to the state. The Mubaraks had already returned LE104 million of the embezzled money to the government in a show of good faith.
A recent investigation by Mada Masr’s Hossam Bahgat showed that Mubarak, the former first lady, Gamal and Alaa and their wives routinely renovated their private estates or bought furniture and fraudulently listed their expenses as maintenance for communication towers, which are set up around the country to provide secure phone lines for the president and paid for by the state.
Following the court verdict, Mubarak’s defense team, headed by lawyer Farid al-Deeb, said that it would appeal the ruling before the Court of Cassation.
These are the last criminal charges pending against Mubarak. In November, the former president, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six Interior Ministry officials were cleared on charges of conspiring to kill protesters during the January 25, 2011 revolution.
In Tuesday’s hearing, the Court of Cassation has two options. The judge could overturn the previous court verdict and grant Mubarak a retrial, whereupon he would be released from prison pending investigation. The other option is to uphold the previous court verdict, but again, Mubarak would still go free, as he has already served the mandated prison time.
The prosecution has purportedly recommended overturning the previous ruling and granting a retrial before the Cairo Criminal Court, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Monday.
An unnamed source close to Mubarak’s family told the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk that Mubarak would remain in the Maadi Military Hospital if the ruling was overturned, as it would be difficult to grant him proper security in a private residence. The source added that the ousted president does not wish to appear publically again.
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