Highlights of Adly’s trial over embezzlement of public funds

CAIRO – 5 May 2018: The retrial of former Mubarak-era Interior Minister Habib al-Adly is set to begin Tuesday, May 8 over charges relating to misappropriating public funds worth of LE 529 million ($30 million).

In January, Cairo’s Court of Cassation accepted the appeal issued earlier by Adly and ordered his retrial. The previous court ruling had suggested a seven-year prison term and a fine of LE 196 million ($11 million) for Adly and two others.

Along with Adly, 13 his top aides have been also involved in the above-mentioned case, including two that are excluded due to their deaths.

Six defendants were sentenced to five years in prison and an aggravated three-year prison term was handed down to another two of Adly’s top aides.

Three witnesses testified in the initial trail, including Jawdat Al-Malt, former chairman of the Accountability State Authority, and Jihad Yusuf, former Assistant Minister of Interior.

The Cairo Criminal Court’s committee entrusted with perusing the papers of the case consisted of representatives from the Accountability State Authority, experts from the ministries of justice and finance, and former accountants from the ministry of interior.

During his address to the court, Adly’s lawyer, Fareed Al Deeb, said that the former minister was a police officer and ignorant of financial laws, so he relied mainly on financial experts working in the ministry. It means that there was no regulatory body that could suggest or prove that something was going wrong.

Deeb also confirmed that the trial reports do not confirm that Adly was actively involved in misappropriating public funds; thus, he requested the Court of Cassation overturn its ruling and demanded a retrial.

After being at large for more than 230 days, Adly was arrested on December 6, 2017 to serve his seven-year prison term, and then Deeb filed the appeal to the court on behalf of the former minister.

After the 2011 revolution broke out, the notorious former minister was immediately removed from office, had his assets frozen and was banned from traveling abroad. Since then, Adly has had a long-running streak in courts after facing multiple charges ranging from corruption to the deliberate murder of demonstrators.

On August 3, 2011, the first session of Adly’s trial over killing demonstrators during the 2011 revolution was held at the Cairo Police Academy; he was later vindicated in 2014.

After the 1997 Luxor massacre that left 70 dead, mostly tourists, Adly replaced Hassan al Alfy as minister of interior and served from 1997 to 2011.