CAIRO – 30 August 2020: A Cairo court of appeal set September 5 for the retrial of former Egyptian Prime Minister and the former Presidential candidate in 2020 Ahmed Shafik over charges of squandering public money and facilitating money embezzlement in a case dubbed in media as “Corruption of the Civil Aviation Ministry.”
Shafiq, along with two other defendants [former CEO of EgyptAir company Mohamed Assi and former Minister of Civil Aviation Ibrahim Mannaa], is facing charges of signing a protocol to illegally grants more than LE 23 million to a non-governmental organization “Heliopolis Association for Development” from the state-owned EgyptAir company and the Egyptian Holding Company for Airport and Air Navigation.
On April 7, 2013, a Cairo criminal court acquitted the three defendants of the charges. However, the public prosecution appealed against the ruling since then.
Appointed as prime minister of Egypt on January 29, 2011, by then-President Hosni Mubarak, Shafik held the post for just one month, resigning on March 3, 2011, in response to public demand.
Shafik served as minister of civil aviation from 2002 until his appointment as prime minister. He was a fighter pilot in the 1973 October War, under the command of Hosni Mubarak.
He lost the presidential elections of 2012 to Mohamed Morsi. Afterwards, he fled to the UAE, and his name was placed on travel watch lists. However, he was removed from the travel watch list in November 2016.
In 2015, a campaign called “You’re the President” appeared in Egypt, calling on Shafik to run the country on allegations that the 2014 elections were forged by the Brotherhood.
Additional reporting by Nawal al-Sayed
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