CAIRO: Former housing minister Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman will return LE 340,000 he had received during his tenure as the head of the Petroleum Marine Services Company since July 2009. According to a statement to Al-Shorouk newspaper by his lawyer Gamil Said, the ex-minister has already signed two checks, one worth LE 317,000 which he received as a salary, and another worth LE 27,000 in allowances and travel expenses. Last month Egypt's State Council ruled that Soliman's appointment in the government-affiliated petroleum services company was unconstitutional because he was also a member of the People's Assembly. The council also said that he was obliged to pay back everything he earned since his appointment. Within weeks of the State Council ruling, Soliman was discharged on the same day he resigned his seat in the PA. In January, 47 MPs filed a report to Prosecutor General Mahmoud Abdel Meguid, demanding his intervention in a lawsuit against the former minister, accusing him of the misappropriation of public funds during his tenure. The suit also claims that he distributed public land among his family and acquaintances as well as receiving bribes in return for offering key businessmen large pieces of land at 10 percent of its value, according to reports in the local press. An administrative monitoring authority affiliated with the Ministry of Justice had previously investigated complaints against Soliman but froze the inquest due to insufficient evidence. The public funds prosecutor has, however, recently reopened the investigation into Soliman's alleged profiteering, bribery and misappropriation of public funds. -Daily News Egypt.
