Giza Criminal Court adjourned on Thursday the trial of steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, former Trade and Industry Minister Ibrahim Mohamedein and five officials of the Dekheila Steel Company until 2 June, when the remaining witnesses will testify.
The suspects face charges of profiteering and squandering public money by helping Ezz acquire shares of the Dekheila Company when it was owned by the state.
During the Thursday session, Osama Ahmed Badawy, an expert at the Central Auditing Authority, testified, saying that additional investments by the Dekheila company caused a funding deficit. These investments violated the loan agreement that the company had signed with the Arab African Bank, which caused creditors to not fund the deficit.
The suspects’ defense team interrupted Badawy, saying that the company’s capital was to be increased from LE1.2 billion to LE1.5 billion. They said that auditing authority did not object to the share offer, which violated the law governing the work of the organization charged with overseeing the finances of affiliated companies.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
