CAIRO: The Cairo Criminal Court adjourned Saturday the case of former Minister of Housing Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman who faces corruption charges to Sept. 24, for the defense team to review case documents. Suleiman is being charged with squandering public funds and using his position to make illicit gains for him and others. He's being tried alongside four of his assistants Fouad Mohamed, Hassan Fadel, Mohamed Abdel Dayem and Ezzat Adel Raouf as well as businessmen, Magdy Rasekh, Yehia El-Komi and Emad El-Hazeq. The charges against Suleiman and his assistants include violating the law by allowing Rasekh to return only part of a piece of land he had taken from the state, after he breached a contract with the housing ministry and failed to meet his financial and construction obligations. According to the prosecution, Rasekh should have returned all the land, not only part of it. Rasekh had only returned 885 acres of a 2550-acre plot in Sharm El-Sheikh to the Ministry of Housing, despite a breach of contract that stipulated he return all of it. This allowed Rasekh to make profits of around LE 970 million. Investigations revealed other violations including allowing Rasekh to sell part of the land and relieving him from paying LE 13.8 million in overall development fees required of other companies and businessmen with similar contracts. The accusations against Suleiman also include illegally giving away government property in New Cairo, equivalent to over LE 23 million to El-Komi and El-Haziq and two other deceased businessmen. Suleiman is also accused of giving three renowned pieces of land in News Cairo, equivalent to LE14 million, to his wife, son and daughter, in violation of the law. Lawyers representing civil rights complainants demanded the maximum sentence for the defendants as well as a preliminary payment of LE 200,000 in compensation. Rasekh, the father-in-law of ousted president Mubarak's elder son Alaa, and El-Hazeq are both being tried in absentia. The rest of the defendants denied the accusations filed against them.
