Ex-Egyptian finance minister gets 30 years in jail

Former Egyptian Finance Minister Yussef Boutros Ghali on Saturday was sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison on corruption charges, a court source said.

Judge Magdi Ghoneim of the Cairo criminal court sentenced Ghali to 15 years for squandering public money by using cars held in customs and another 15 years for abusing his position to personally benefit from ministry funds.

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The court also ordered him to return 30 million Egyptian pounds (about $5.05 million) and to pay an additional 30 million pounds in fines, the source said.

Ghali, who is out of the country, is one of a string of ministers of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's regime to face charges as part of a sweeping probe into fraud by the country's new military rulers.

Last month, a Cairo court sentenced former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to 12 years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges.

The court also fined el-Adly 15 million Egyptian pounds, ( about $2.5 million), and ordered his assets confiscated.

Boutros Ghali, el-Adly and former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif are accused of making huge profits by importing new vehicle license plates to Egypt without publishing a tender as required by law.

The trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mbarak, and two of his sons, is scheduled to open August 3.

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