Former Prime Minister Hesham Qandil was arrested on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of the Interior. The ministry added that Qandil was caught in a mountainous path accompanied by a smuggler while attempting to flee to Sudan.. Qandil was sentenced to a year in prison by the Dokki Misdemeanour Court on 17 April for failing to implement an Administrative Court verdict annulling the privatisation of Tanta Flax and Oil Company. At the time, the court also ordered that Qandil be dismissed from his position as Prime Minister. The sentence was upheld by the Dokki Court of Appeals on 30 September . The court also banned Qandil from travelling on 18 September in connection with a corruption case that involved 205 feddans of land in Cairo's Fifth Settlement, valued at around EGP 1bn, which Qandil's predecessor Kamal Al-Ganzouri had confiscated from a real estate company. Qandil allegedly disregarded Ganzouri's decision and proceeded to hand over the land to the company. Qandil, 51, served as a water resources minister in 2011 under then-Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. He eventually succeeded Sharaf in the position when former President Mohamed Morsi appointed him as prime minister on 2 August 2012. The former Prime Minister's first cabinet reshuffle came on 6 January as 10 new ministers were appointed, bringing more Freedom and Justice party (FJP) members to the cabinet. Qandil is officially unaffiliated with the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and is not a member of Egypt's other political parties. He remained in power until Morsi was ousted on 3 July. Qandil is currently being held in the Tora Prison complex, confirmed the ministry of interior's media centre.
