12 settlements of Mubarak-era businesses approved by reconciliation committee.

CAIRO – 1 May 2017: Twelve reconciliation deals worth millions of Egyptian pounds requested by officials from the former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime will be presented to the upcoming Cabinet meeting in May for approval.

Minister of Justice Hossam Abdel Rahim will propose the settlements for embezzlement and profiteering cases, after a ministerial committee approved 12 out of 40 requests worth 93 million EGP submitted in March.

The committee, formed to study reconciliation deals offered in cases of squandering public funds, rejected seven deals, accepted twelve, and delayed the rest for further study.

The members of the committee evaluate the wealth of the defendants involved, compare it with their financial disclosure statements based on their legal income, and then decide the figure they should pay in exchange of dropping the charges.

After the 25 January revolution, many Mubarak-era businessmen and officials were arrested, banned from travelling, or had their assets frozen over illicit gains.

Last November, a reconciliation deal of Mubarak’s Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid was accepted after “official documents” proved he built his wealth before assuming the ministry in 2004, MENA reported without specifying the amount of money he paid, if any, to reconcile with the government.

Having fled Egypt after the 2011 revolution, Rachid was sentenced in absentia in June of the same year to five years in prison for embezzlement. In August 2011, he was sentenced to yet another 15 years for influence peddling worth of 522 million EGP.