Egypt's Court of Cassation ordered Wednesday a second retrial in the corruption case against former prime minister Ahmed Nazif. Nazif, who served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was accused of exploiting his position to make illicit gains. In July, the court sentenced Nazif to five years in prison and ordered him to pay EGP 53.3m fine. He was also ordered to return the sum of EGP 48m to state coffers. Nazif, however, was granted an appeal against his conviction, with the court setting 3 February as the date for his second retrial. The former prime minister was initially sentenced to three years in prison and an EGP 4.5m fine. The court however overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial in June 2013. The Illicit Gains Authority originally referred Nazif to the criminal court following investigations that found he had abused his authority in illegally obtaining EGP 64m in assets, including shares in telecommunications firms. He was also accused of illicitly using an apartment in the San Stefano towers, through which he ran a "private university" that purported to be for public benefit, and procured government funds and private donations to the tune of EGP 25m. He was acquitted, along with former interior minister Habib Al-Adly, of graft charges of squandering public funds totalling EGP 92m in the "licence plates" case. They were both accused of illegal profiteering from a deal with a German firm to import vehicle number plates. Nazif was arrested following the ouster of Mubarak in February 2011 and has since faced several corruption charges.
