Mr Ezz to face trial on money laundering charges

Egypt’s Attorney General Mr Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on Thursday referred steel magnate Mr Ahmed Ezz to the Cairo Criminal Court on charges of money laundering.

State run agency MENA reported that the public prosecution has accused Ezz of laundering EGP 6.429 billion of illegally acquired and public funds.

Investigations found that Mr Ezz had invested a portion of that amount in establishing new companies named after himself, his wife and his son. They also revealed that the businessman made several remittances to his own accounts and to companies he owned abroad.

Mr Ezz is currently being tried before the Giza Criminal Court on charges of squandering funds at his company, Ezz Steel. Also involved in the same case are former Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Mr Ibrahim Mohamedein and five other company officials.

In September, the Giza court sentenced mr Ezz to 10 years in prison on charges of illegally acquiring production licenses. The same case included defendants mr Amr Assal, the former head of the Industrial Development Authority and mr Rachid Mohamed Rachid, another former minister of industry and foreign trade.