A committee tasked with investigating and appropriating the assets of members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group has referred popular footballer Mohamed Abou-Treika to the prosecution for investigation on charges of funding the group. 

The committee also referred businessman Safwan Thabet, owner of Juhayna dairy company, to the prosecution, the secretary-general of the committee, Yasser Abul-Fotouh, told Ahram Online.

All of Safwan’s assets were seized last August; Juhayna, the largest dairy company in Egypt, was not affected by the seizure.

Last May, the committee issued a statement saying it had decided to confiscate the assets of Ashab Tours, a tourism company which was co-founded in 2013 by Abou-Treika and an unnamed member of the Brotherhood.

All of Abou-Treika’s assets were also seized during the process. The retired footballer, 37, appealed the decision twice, but the appeals were rejected on both accounts.

In an interview with Al-Ahram daily newspaper in 2015, Abou-Trieka said that the company co-owner, allegedly associated with the Brotherhood, left it over a year ago.

The footballing star supported Mohamed Morsi during the 2012 election but has remained largely tight-lipped about his political allegiances since Morsi's ouster in 2013.

The Muslim Brotherhood was declared a terrorist group in 2013; most of its leadership is in jail.

Public and private media outlets, which have opposed the Brotherhood, have regularly accused Abou-Treika of affiliation with the banned group.

The prosecution will decide whether or not to take the cases forward.