CAIRO — A judge in Egypt investigating corruption charges against former president Hosni Mubarak’s premier Ahmed Shafiq yesterday ordered Mubarak’s two sons detained for allegedly buying land from Shafiq below the market price, state media reported.
Alaa and Gamal Mubarak are already in detention on other corruption-related charges.
Shafiq, who lost to the Islamist Mohamed Morsi in June’s presidential election, is under investigation for allegedly selling land to the sons of the fallen leader.
The judge did not order the detention of Shafiq, who flew to the United Arab Emirates shortly after he lost the election, prompting speculation that he was fleeing. His spokesman has said he will return.
Judge Osama al-Saidi questioned Alaa and Gamal Mubarak “for almost 10 hours and accused them of profiteering,” the official MENA news agency reported.
Another judge in June dropped different corruption charges against the pair, who were on trial with their father, because of the expiry of a statute of limitations.
This outraged many Egyptians who saw it as an acquittal.
Mubarak himself was sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killings of protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to resign in February 2011.
Following that trial, Alaa and Gamal, jailed with their father in Cairo’s Tora prison, were ordered detained on suspicion of insider trading in the Egyptian stock market.
The accusations against Shafiq were first levelled by an Islamist member of parliament after the former premier said he would stand for president.
He lost to Morsi by roughly a million votes in the bitterly disputed election. — AFP.