The Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal filed by the prosecution against the acquittal of former Housing Minister Ahmed al-Maghraby, former chairman of Akhbar Al-Youm Mohamed Ahdy Fadly and fugitive businessman Yassin Mansour, who had been accused of obtaining illicit gains from selling the institution’s land plots and squandering public funds.
The prosecution challenged the verdict issued by Cairo Criminal Court, clearing Maghraby, Fadly, Mansour and Emirati businessman Wahid Metwally Youssef from all charges. It called for a retrial of the suspects, saying that the verdict ignored the illicit profits obtained via the Palm Hills company, owned by Mansour. The prosecution added that the decision on referring the case to court did not include illicit gains for Akhbar Al-Youm, which was mentioned in the verdict.
According to the prosecution, the verdict also failed to tackle the evidence mentioned in the eyewitness testimonies and reports submitted by experts. Maghraby had earlier been accused of profiteering through selling 113 feddans in 6th of October city for Akhbar Al-Youm in violation of regulations that ban selling New Urban Communities Authority lands before paying their full price.
Prosecution also accused Fadly of selling the lands to another company that transferred the land ownership to Palm Hills, which made profits through the difference in pricing: It purchased the land at LE515 per square meter, while the real price was estimated at LE850.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
