The National Administrative Court overturned an appeal filed against the renationalisation of the Tanta Flax and Oil Company on Saturday.

The court had ruled against the privatisation of the company in September 2011.

The company was privatised in 2005, when it was sold to Saudi investor Abdel-Ellah Al-Kaaky for less than its total value.

Privatisation caused hundreds of workers to lose their jobs and deprived the remaining workers of annual bonuses that they had routinely received when the factory was under state ownership.

On 17 April, the Dokki Misdemeanor Court gave former prime minister Hisham Qandil a suspended sentence of one year in prison, with a LE 2,000 bail, for failure to implement the verdict of the Administrative Court that ordered the re-nationalisation of the Tanta Flax and Oil Company and invalidated the sale of the company to Al-Kaaky.