Ashraf Aboul Kheir, lawyer of former industry minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid, said that his client was acquitted by a final judicial verdict from any accusation of corruption, and is eligible to return to Egypt anytime once his name has been cleared from the arrival blacklist. The Cairo Criminal Court ruled on Sunday to accept reconciliation with Rashid. The defendant served under former president Hosni Mubarak, and was accused of corruption in a case relating to the granting of steel licences. Other defendants in the case will still face trial. The court has decided to postpone looking into the case until 7 March for the hearing of the other defendants. Aboul Kheir told Daily News Egypt that the ruling included the reconciliation of his client with the state and dismantling the ban on his frozen assets inside and outside Egypt. Rashid is allowed to participate in the local market like any Egyptian citizen, as well as invest in different sectors without restrictions. Rashid had left Egypt following the 25 January Revolution which overthrew Mubarak's regime. The judiciary issued a ruling in absentia in August 2014 against Rashid, sentencing him to 15 years imprisonment for making illicit gains. Rashid submitted an official request through his lawyers to the Illicit Gains Authority to reconcile with the state for a sum of EGP 500m to drop the charges against him based on the recent amendments of the Gains Law.
