Due to procedural error, a Cairo criminal court sends to prosecution former PM and ex-presidential contender Ahmed Shafiq's corruption case regarding embezzlement of public funds and properties A Cairo criminal court sent Thursday to prosecution a corruption case involving former PM Ahmed Shafiq, after refusing to look into the case because of a procedural error. Along with 10 officials from the Housing Cooperative Association for Military Pilots, former presidential candidate Shafiq is accused of appropriating a plot of land worth LE30 million (around $ 4.3 million) owned by the association. The former Air Force commander is also facing charges of money laundering worth LE5 million (around $724,742). Earlier Thursday, Shafiq was acquitted of charges of embezzling public funds in the Pilots' Association for Land Development trial. The two sons of deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Gamal and Alaa, were also acquitted in the same case. Mubarak's former aviation minister Shafiq headed the Pilots' Association for Land Development in 1992. He was accused by the general prosecution of having seized 40,000 metres of land belonging to fishing farms, illegally allocating them to the association before reselling them to Mubarak's sons at lower than market price. Shafiq, who was tried in absentia, currently resides in Dubai. He left Egypt after his defeat in the presidential election runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in 2012. A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his name has been removed from the airport watch list. The ex-presidential candidate had earlier announced he would run for Egypt's upcoming presidential elections if Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi decided not to run. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/89537.aspx
