JURIST - Paper Chase: Former Egypt officials charged with corruption

[JURIST] Egyptian prosecutors charged former prime minister Ahmed Nazif, former finance minister Yousef Boutros and former interior minister Habib el Adly with corruption on Sunday. The charges stem from allegations that the three former officials, all of which served under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak [Al Jazeera profile; JURIST news archive], granted a no-bid contract [Al Jazeera report] to a German businessman to sell license plates in Egypt. The deal is alleged to have wasted USD $15 million of public funds by paying more for the plates than market price. The businessman has also been charged [AP report]. Nazif is already in prison, Adly is facing separate corruption charges and Boutros has left the country. The trial date has not been set. The charges come amid a wider effort by the ruling Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [NYT backgrounder] to dismantle the vestiges of Mubarak's government. The High Administrative Court on Saturday ordered the dissolution of Mubarak's former ruling party [JURIST report]. The court also liquidated the party's assets.

The decision came just days after the court ordered Mubarak moved to a hospital to recover from an unspecified ailment, causing a delay in questioning [JURIST report] regarding his alleged roles in protester deaths and embezzlement of government money. The week before, the chief prosecutor summoned [Al Jazeera report] Mubarak for questioning, along with his two sons, Gamal and Alaa. Egyptian authorities continued to question Mubarak's sons [AFP report] after Mubarak was taken to the hospital. In a televised statement on Sunday, Mubarak denied corruption charges [BBC report], asserted his right to defend his reputation and expressed his willingness to cooperate [Al Arabiya report] with investigations, denying that he owns property abroad or holds foreign bank accounts.