North Cairo Criminal Court acquitted five leading officials of the civil aviation sector from charges of willfully wasting public money invested in Egypt Air with losses estimated at over $9.6 million.
The Public Prosecution had accused four officials of setting the sales price of two airplanes at less than their actual value and the fifth official of selling the airplanes based on that estimation, causing losses to the company.
The court listened to the testimony of engineer Hassan Mohamed Ali Saqer, who confirmed that the committee formed to determine the sale price of aircraft followed the same policy of the evaluation committee, made up of the defendants.
The testimony proved that there had been no criminal intention in the sale process. In addition, the amounts of money spent on maintenance was calculated into the sales price, which had an impact in the low sales price, the witness added.
He explained that the bid of American company JT Power to purchase the planes was among the best deals.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
