The Spanish National Court reduced the bail for Hussein Salam, an Egyptian businessman who was arrested last month in Madrid. The new bail, reduced from 15 million euro (U.S. $21.4 million) to 5 million euro (U.S. $7.1 million), is still considered prohibitive, but Spanish officials refuse to let him depart to Egypt before paying the smaller bail. The fourth section of the criminal division of the National Court complied with Salem's request and reduced the bail – originally set on June 17 by Judge Eloy Velasco – reported Spanish newspaper El Mundo. The original bail figure for Salem was the largest ever set in the Spanish judiciary, and the reduction was to help Salem return to Egypt, El Mundo reported. The court however refused Salem's request to invoke Law 508 of the criminal procedure act – a law that allows those charged in remanded cases to be held under house arrest. Court President Angela Morella and Judges Tereza Balasious and Carmen Baloma Gonzalleza refused to transfer Salem from the hospital, owing to his precarious health. But Salem refuses to be sent to Egypt because of the trials pending against him there. Spain froze one million euros in Salem's Spanish banks, and seized seven buildings in Marabeya and five luxury cars, worth an estimated 10 million euro (U.S. $14.3 million).
