Businessman Salah Diab (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Egyptian authorities decided on Wednesday to hand businessman Salah Diab a 15-day detention pending investigation into an array of charges.
According to sources, Diab is facing multiple corruption charges, including tax evasion. He owes the state EGP 11,135 billion in overdue taxes.
The Egyptian business tycoon, who was reportedly arrested on Tuesday, is also accused of seizing a state-owned parcel of land and building factories of "La Poire" on it without a license.
Diab is the co-founder of Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's largest privately-owned daily newspapers, and is also the co-founder of PICO group which has five main business branches including food and agriculture, real estate, energy, engineering and finance investments.
It is the second time for the businessman to be arrested as in November 2015 Diab and his son Tawfik were arrested at his villa in Giza after being accused of possessing unlicensed firearms. In the same month, Diab was released on a EGP 50,000 bail and his son on a EGP 10,000.
They were acquitted in September 2017 by a Giza criminal court of charges.
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