Court adjourns trial of annulling reconciliation deal with Salem to April 20

CAIRO – 6 April 2017: Egypt’s Administrative Court adjourned Thursday a trial calling to annul the government’s reconciliation deal with Egyptian-Spanish business tycoon Hussein Salem over illicit gains charges,

Youm7 reported

. The trial will resume April 20.

The lawsuit, filed against the head of the Illicit Gains Authority (IGA), claims the reconciliation deal contradicts the Illicit Gains Law.

The government and the fugitive billionaire reached a deal in August 2016 per which he ceded 5.341 billion EGP (U.S. $296.7 million), 75 percent of his wealth, to the government.

In October 2015 the Egyptian government passed new amendments, by which the state could reconcile with statesmen charged with smuggling public money abroad by repaying the government money smuggled in exchange for dropping criminal charges against them.

On March 30, Egyptian authorities unfroze Salem’s assets inside and outside Egypt; the decision to unfreeze his assets came in a February court ruling.

The court decision ruled that Salem and his family’s names will be removed from a travel ban list. After five years in self-imposed exile it is now possible for the fugitive businessman to return to Egypt without facing legal repercussions.