Egyptian prosecutors on Thursday ordered the release on bail of the former head of the Al-Ahram advertising agency on corruption charges.

State news agency MENA reported that Hassan Hamdi was ordered to be detained for 15 days last week as prosecutors investigated the charges.

On Thursday, prosecutors ordered his release on a bail of LE100,000 pending investigation on charges including embezzlement and misuse of public funds at the agency, which is part of Al-Ahram media organisation.

Hamdi is also the chairman of Ahly sporting club, one of Egypt's most prominent sports institutions, and was a player with Ahly football club in the 1970s.

Authorities are probing reports made by Al-Ahram employees and the country's official auditing authority of corruption and financial irregularities at the organisation, said to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Travel bans were imposed on Hamdi and on three former Al-Ahram CEOs: Ibrahim Nafae, Morsi Attallah and Abdel-Moneim El-Said.

Abdel-Moneim El-Said is currently CEO of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

Ibrahim Nafae is reportedly abroad.