The Giza Criminal Court acquitted on Thursday ex-interior minister Habib al-Adly, who served during the rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, from accusations of financial corruption and misuse of public funds.
But the court fined Adly and eight other employees in the ministry an amount of EGP500 (USD29) each after convicting them on charges of unintentional "abuse of public funds" through negligence.
Nabil Khalaf, the former head of the ministry's Central Administration of Finances and Budget, was handed a three-year prison sentence by the court, and was ordered to pay back EGP62 million.
Each defendant was ordered in 2017 to refund a total of EGP195 million, was fined the same amount, and sentenced to seven years in jail. But the Court of Cassation overturned the sentence in January and ordered a retrial.
According to the prosecution, charges included Adly’s siphoning off over EGP5.5 of public funds. Charges against Khalaf also included plundering EGP41.1 from the ministry.
They were also indicted with forging public deeds and intentionally undermining funds of the authority they were working for at an amount of EGP1.134 billion.
