The scope of the corruption charges levelled at high-profile officials of the former Mubarak regime has widened, reports Gamal Essam El-Din A flurry of new corruption charges were levelled against senior officials of the regime of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak this week, among them charges against Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's last prime minister and a candidate in this year's presidential elections when he qualified for the second round and received more than 12 million votes. Shafik, who has been referred for criminal trial, faces charges of helping Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal obtain 40,000 metres of land near Ismailia at the low price of 70 piastres per metre. A complaint filed by Essam Sultan, a former Islamist MP and a lawyer, alleges that Shafik used his position as chair of the Association of Air Pilots in 1993 to sell the land to Gamal and Alaa. On Tuesday, investigative judge Osama El-Saidi ordered that Shafik, Gamal and Alaa Mubarak and three former officials of the association be referred for trial. El-Saidi asked the Egyptian police and Interpol to detain Shafik and place him in custody pending trial. Shafik is currently living in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Responding to the news, Shafik said that he had expected he would be referred for trial. "In a climate replete with malicious intentions, the investigative judge's order was only to be expected," he said. Shafik's lawyer Yehia Qadri said the matter should not be taken too seriously, however. "Shafik is innocent, and we believe that he should not have been referred for trial," Qadri said, indicating that the charges against Shafik would have to be dropped since "they took place in the 1990s, or 20 years ago," and they cannot now be the object of a criminal trial. Mubarak family lawyer Farid El-Deeb said that Alaa and Gamal Mubarak had decided to give up the land they had bought near Ismailia. "I think the objective of this case is to tarnish the image of Mubarak's two sons and other senior officials," El-Deeb said, adding that Alaa and Gamal had acquired the land because their father, a former air force pilot, was a member of the association. "The price they paid for the land was the one that was current in the early 1990s, and they did not exercise any undue influence to acquire it," he said. Political analysts such as political science professor Gamal Zahran believe that the growing hegemony of the Muslim Brotherhood over political life in Egypt may have been responsible for exerting pressure on the investigating judge to refer Shafik for trial. "It would be good news for the Muslim Brotherhood to see Shafik in jail with his image tarnished and having lost any hope of returning to political life," Zahran said. In another development, corruption charges were also levelled this week against two other Mubarak regime officials, the most important being former defence minister and chair of the former ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Hussein Tantawi. Complaints filed by the 6 April Youth Movement charge Tantawi with manslaughter during the 25 January Revolution, and independent newspapers have also claimed that Tantawi enriched himself as a result of holding the post of minister of defence for over 22 years. The independent Sawt Al-Umma weekly alleged that Tantawi had obtained millions of pounds in cash and gold from the state during his period in office. It alleged that Tantawi had exploited his position in order to help Mohamed El-Tohami, former chair of the watchdog Administrative Control Authority (ACA), retain his post even after El-Tohami had reached retirement age in return for his keeping a lid on Tantawi's corrupt practices. In a meeting with President Mohamed Mursi last week, thousands of young people, mostly belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, demanded that he "put Tantawi on trial." They chanted "the people want Tantawi to be put on trial," and in response Mursi said that "we should respect people who were sincere about giving up power, but no one is above the law." Other corruption charges were levelled against Sami Anan, former SCAF deputy chair and chief of military staff, who faces charges of obtaining land in the upscale Golf district east of Cairo by illegal means. The charges were referred to the military prosecuting authority "in its capacity as the only authority authorised to investigate charges against members of the military." Farouk Hosni, the former minister of culture and a high-profile figure in the Mubarak regime, was also referred for trial this week on charges of profiteering from his position. Hosni, minister of culture for over 23 years, has been accused of acquiring LE18 million by illegal means. According to Assem El-Gohari, chair of the state-affiliated Illicit Gains Authority (IGA), "Hosni was not able to provide documents certifying that he had acquired funds in a legal way." The decision to put Hosni on trial came as a surprise to some, since El-Gohari had said last year that the former minister had been cleared of corruption charges and that he had acquired his wealth by legal means. Hosni himself has said that the money came from the proceeds of sales of his paintings, commenting that one of his paintings could sell for LE300,000. Hosni was close to Mubarak's wife Suzanne Mubarak, and it is believed that this may have helped him stay in office longer than other ministers of the former Mubarak regime. Meanwhile, Swiss officials in Cairo said this week that Switzerland had decided to freeze some $700 million in assets of former Mubarak regime officials, including those of business tycoon Hussein Salem, former construction minister Ibrahim Suleiman, Mubarak's former private secretary Gamal Abdel-Aziz, and former petroleum minister Sameh Fahmi. The list also included the assets of two former prime ministers, Ahmed Nazif and Atef Ebeid, and of Alaa Mubarak's father-in-law Magdi Rasekh and his wife. Most of these individuals are now in jail, while others, such as Salem and Rasekh, are outside the country.
