The Cairo Criminal Court acquitted Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of ousted president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, and others, in the case known in the media as "manipulating the stock exchange" on Saturday. The court also postponed its rule on preventing nine defendants accused in the same case from disposing of their money, including Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, till 11 March. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were among seven defendants who were acquitted in the same ruling, issued by judge Khalil Omar Abdel-Aziz. The other five defendants who were acquitted are: Ayman Hussein Suleiman, 51, former chairman of the National Bank and the current chairman of Drexel Petroleum Equipment Company; Yasser Suleiman Hisham El-Mallawani, 50, member of the National Bank board; Ahmed Naim Badr, 44, a former member of the board of directors of the National Bank and current managing director of El-Naeem Holding Company; Amr Mohamed Ali El-Qadi, 52, member of the board of directors of the National Bank and current general manager of ASEC Company; and Hussein Lotfi El-Sherbiny, 45, a former member of the board of directors of the National Bank and current managing director of HC Securities and Investment. Earlier, former prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud referred the defendants to the Cairo Criminal Court, accusing them of illegally acquiring EGP 51 million. The prosecution also charged Gamal Mubarak of participating in the crime of profiteering and illegally acquiring for himself and his companies more than EGP 493 million by agreeing to sell the National Bank to achieve financial gains for them and others, and enabling him to acquire shares from the bank via a company in Cyprus. In September 2018, a Cairo criminal court ordered the release on bail of the two sons of toppled president Mubarak, just five days after their arrest over charges in the same case. The case began in 2012 but Mubarak's two sons had been released on bail and banned from travel.