Former Egyptian culture minister Farouq Hosni was referred to a criminal court on Tuesday by Judge Ahmed El-Gohary, head of Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority, where he will face accusations that he used his government position to illegally acquire some LE9 million (roughly $1.4 million). In February of last year, in the wake of former president Hosni Mubarak's ouster, the deposed president's long-serving culture minister – together with other former ministers – was slapped with a travel ban. Hosni currently faces charges related to administrative corruption. A number of Mubarak-era ministers have already received substantial prison sentences, including former interior minister Habib El-Adli, former housing ministers Ahmed El-Maghrabi and Ibrahim Soliman, former tourism minister Zuheir Garana, former petroleum minister Sameh Fahmy, and former prime ministers Atef Ebeid and Ahmed Nazif. Other pre-revolution government ministers that currently face trials in absentia include former finance minister Youssef Botrous-Ghali and former trade minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid.
