CAIRO - Egyptian authorities detained a former agriculture minister for 15 days on Tuesday to investigate allegations that he had allowed the importation of cancer-causing pesticides, judicial sources said. They said Youssef Wali, agriculture minister from 1982 to 2004, was also being investigated over allegations that he had wasted 200 million Egyptian pounds of state funds by selling land to businessman Hussein Salem for less than the market price. The land was a 38-acre plot on an island at Luxor, a tourist city 720 km (450 miles) south of Cairo renowned for its Pharaonic temples and ornately decorated tombs. "Youssef Wali was detained for 15 days pending investigation on charges of approving the import of cancerous pesticides that violate the law, as well as helping businessman Hussein Salem earn profits illegally," said the Justice Ministry's investigative judge, Ahmed Edrees. "Questioning began with Wali, who is accused of bringing in 37 brands of pesticides that were proven to cause cancer ... and which were banned in 1996 from entering the country, but were allowed in in 1998 under Wali until 2004," the state news agency MENA said. A prosecutor froze Wali's assets in April in connection with the sale of 100,000 acres of land in Toshka, southern Egypt, to Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a deal which authorities suspected broke the law. Salem, a close aide to Mubarak, was arrested in Spain last month on an international warrant, suspected of wasting public funds by selling gas to Israel below market prices.
