Former interior minister Habib El-Adly has been sentenced to five years in prison for squandering public funds in the infamous car plates case, the Egyptian criminal court ruled on Tuesday.

El-Adly had been already given a 12-year sentence in May on corruption charges, related to using his position to gain profits illegally. He could also face the death sentence if convicted for the crime of killing protesters during Egypt's January Revolution.

Former prime minister Ahmed Nazif was given a suspended one year sentence, while former finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, who was tried in absentia, was handed a 10 year sentence in the same case after the court announced its verdict on Tuesday.

Ghali, who fled the country following the revolution, was previously handed a 30 year prison term for squandering public funds.

El-Adly, Nazif and Ghali will also have to pay LE92.5 million in compensation, the court added.

Nazif was accused of granting a German company a contract worth LE92 million to manufacture car licence plates for the Ministry of Interior through a direct order rather than the public auction stipulated by law.

El-Adly and Ghali were accused of complicity in the deal.