An Egyptian court acquitted Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister of deposed president Hosni Mubarak, on a charge of embezzling public funds when he was civil aviation minister, a court official said on Sunday.
Shafik, who is on a watch list at border points, was tried in his absence over allegations that he, former civil aviation minister Ibrahim Mannaa, and former Egypt Air chief Tawfiq el-Asi embezzled over 23 million Egyptian pounds ($3.4 million). All three were found not guilty, advisor Ahmed Yousef said.
Shafik, who was a presidential candidate in 2012, left for Abu Dhabi last June two days after his opponent, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi, was declared president. He still faces another corruption charge over his alleged allocation of 40,000 square meters of state land to Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal. The ex-leader's sons are in prison, also facing corruption charges. Their 84-year-old father will be retried from next Saturday after an appeal to quash his life sentence for the killing of protesters by security forces was upheld.
On Sunday the prosecutor general ordered Mubarak's detention for another 15 days for a separate investigation over corruption charges and embezzling public funds.
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