Egypt's public prosecutors' office said on Sunday it had frozen land in southern Egypt controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal because the original sale of the land violated the law.
The public prosecutor has been investigating business transactions and the finances of officials under Hosni Mubarak since mass protests forced him to resign as president on February 11. The land, owned by Alwaleed's Kingdom Agricultural Development Co (KADCO), is part of the Toshka desert project to pump water from Egypt's Aswan High Dam reservoir and deliver it via a 50 km (30 mile) canal to reclaimed agricultural land 60 km from the Sudanese border.
KADCO, part of Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co, bought 100,000 feddans (420 million square metres) at Toshka in 1998, soon after the project was begun.
The spokesman said Alwaleed's contract violated Egyptian law because the area KADCO bought was twice the legal limit and because it improperly exempted Alwaleed's company from all taxes and fees. The contract was signed on the Egyptian side by former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali.