A court in Egypt on Tuesday acquitted three former ministers from the ousted Hosni Mubarak regime of the charges related to squandering public funds and illegal profiteering, but sentenced another in absentia to five years in prison over the same charges.
The three acquitted on Tuesday included former Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, former Information Minister Anas al-Fikki and former Housing Minister Ahmed Maghrabi.
While Ghali and Fikki were cleared of the charges of squandering public funds on parliamentary and presidential election campaigns, Maghrabi was acquitted of illegal profiteering.
Despite their acquittal on Tuesday, the three minister have either been convicted and sentenced on other charges or are facing separate trials.
Ghali was tried in absentia as he had fled the country in February. He was sentenced last month to 30 years in prison for profiteering and abuse of state and private assets.
Maghrabi was given a five-year jail sentence in a separate case, while Fikki is facing trial over charges of deliberately misusing funds from the state-run radio and television union.
In a separate hearing held Tuesday, the same court sentenced former Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid in absentia to five years in prison for squandering public funds.
The developments come nearly five months after Mubarak was forced to step down from office on February 11 following mass protests across the country against his 30-year rule, handing over control of the nation to the military.
Currently, more than a dozen former ministers and businessmen with links to the Mubarak regime are facing investigations over a number of allegations ranging from corruption and money laundering to abuse of authority and squandering state wealth.
In addition, Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, have been charged with “premeditated murder of some participants in the peaceful protests of the January 25 revolution.” Mubarak is also accused of conspiring with a local businessman to sell gas to Israel at reduced rates, thereby defrauding the exchequer of several millions of dollars.
Mubarak is currently under detention at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. He was admitted to the hospital after he suffered a heart attack while being questioned by prosecutors about the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the civil unrest and allegations of corruption.
Gamal and Alaa are being held at the Tora prison in the outskirts of Cairo. Gamal, Mubarak’s younger son, was once expected to succeed his father as Egypt’s president. Although Mubarak’s wife Suzanne is also suspected of corruption, she was released on bail in May after she returned a villa in a Cairo suburb as well as $3 million held in local accounts.