During a seven-hour interrogation on Thursday, Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, former minister of housing, confessed that while his sons received two plots of land from the Ministry of Housing while he was in office, they received the plots through legal means, much like any ordinary citizen. The former minister also denied that he provided any other plots of land to his wife or family members and presented three bags of evidence to support his claims. He was not responsible for allocating plots of land while serving as the minister, he added. According to Suleiman, the alleged violations were the responsibility of the city councils. All the violations in the Administrative Control Authority's report do not incriminate him, said Suleiman, during the investigations conducted by the Public Funds Prosecution. He only attended the session in order to submit documents which he believes will lead to the closure of the case, Suleiman added. Meanwhile, the former minister reportedly asked for the timing of the investigations to be changed, in order to avoid media coverage. He reportedly asked the interior minister to help him change the timing. The Public Funds Prosecution is expected to hear Suleiman's testimony regarding the allocation of plots of land to businessmen. Suleiman was released pending further investigation. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
