Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud has referred the former ministers of finance and information, Youssef Boutros Ghali and Anas el-Fiqqi respectively to a criminal court on alleged charges of misusing public funds, legal sources said Wednesday. Mahmoud has ordered that Ghali, who is presumably living in the US after escaping from the country following the January 25 Revolution, and el-Fiqqi to appear before the Cairo criminal court, accused of deliberately wasting public funds,the sources said. Preliminary investigations indicated that Ghali agreed to give Fiqqi 36 million Egyptian pounds ($6 million) from the state budget for launching a media campaign for the last parliamentary polls as well as coverage in state media in favour of the then ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), the sources said. The two ex-ministers are the latest officials to face criminal charges as part of sweeping graft probes since the popular revolt that broke out on January 25 and toppled the Hosni Mubarak regime on February 11. At present, former ministers of interior, housing and tourism are also being quizzed for alleged corruption, abuse of public funds and fraud, along with several NDP members. A military council has been ruling Egypt since the nationwide protests demanding political and economic change forced Mubarak to step down. If convicted, Ghali and el-Fiqqi could face up to 25 years in prison as well the payment of millions of egyptian pounds in damages, the sources said. Under Mubarak's 30-year rule, corruption has been a law that could not be violated despite the presence of many Government-run watchdog authorities. These bodies, headed by the General Authority for Administrative Surveillance, have been presenting reports about high-profile graft incidents that involved top Government officials and business tycoons to the former president and his prime minister. But, these reports were not read by the two top officials, or shelved by some unknown persons, who wanted corruption to reach its highest levels. After the arrest of a score of ministers following the downfall of the Mubarak regime on February 11, the Authority, which was revived by a 1982 republican decree, shocked millions of Egyptians when it blew the whistle against almost everyone who worked with the former president. However, many Egyptians are busy finding an answer to this question: What was the Authority doing before the revolution and why it did not take an action against the corrupt officials? The Authority officials defended themselves by saying that they always presented reports about certain top-shot officials and business magnets to the ex-president demanding his permission to take legal action against them.
