(AFP File Photo)
The former prime minister under Hosni Mubarak was scheduled to be released on Tuesday after a retrial of the licence plate case against him was granted. Ahmed Nazif stood accused of having squandered EGP 92m in public funds by granting the contract to produce new licence plates to a company through direct order at above-market prices, in violation of the tenders and auctions law.
At the time of writing, the state-owned Al-Ahram reported Nazif was still in Tora Prison pending the release order from the court. The retrial is expected to commence on 27 July, Al-Ahram reported.
The decision to release Nazif pending the retrial was made on Sunday, but the order to release him from Tora prison was not issued until Tuesday. Nazif’s detention comes to an end because he has reached the maximum period of detention as per the law.
Ahmed Nazif served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak as prime minister from 2004 to 2011. He resigned during the 2011 revolution and shortly after was arrested and charged with various different offenses including corruption and fraud.
In 2012, Nazif was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of EGP 4.8m related to corruption charges. He stood accused of nepotism, receiving gifts from press organisations and abusing his position to amass EGP 65m in private assets. The verdict was overturned on 13 June by the Court of Cassation, which ordered a retrial.
Earlier in June the Supreme Administrative Court ordered Mubarak, Nazif and former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly to pay a fine of EGP 540m to the state treasury in compensation for economic losses caused by the communications blackout during the revolution.
On Monday Nazif was discharged for a case pertaining to gifts received by the Ministry of Information.
