Salah Diab (Photo: Al-Ahram)
A Giza court renewed on Tuesday the detention of prominent businessman Salah Diab for 15 days pending an investigation into charges of possessing unlicensed firearms at his home.
Earlier in the day, Diab attended the court session with his two lawyers; Farid El-Deeb, who also represents former president Hosni Mubarak, and Mohamed Hammouda.
Diab got his detention renewed after he was previously detained for four days pending investigations on Sunday.
His son is also being detained for four days over the same charges, and is awaiting the prosecution's decision on Wednesday on whether he will have his detention renewed or would be released.
On Monday, the Egyptian stock exchange froze the assets of the business mogul and 16 others following an official notice by the Egyptian prosecution banning the businessmen from trading in the market.
Diab, who is also the co-founder of one of Egypt's largest privately-owned daily newspapers, Al-Masry Al-Youm, is also facing charges of financial corruption.
The Public Funds Prosecution Bureau had received a complaint in 2011 that Diab and the other suspects had acquired agricultural land on the Alexandria Desert Road from the agriculture ministry at a very low price, and built tourist resorts on those plots in violation of the contract.
A Cairo criminal court adjourned a Tuesday session on the asset freeze to Wednesday.
The prosecutor-general had ordered that Diab's assets be frozen on Friday, along with those of his wife and a number of other associates, including other co-founders of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
Diab's lawyer El-Deeb said that his client’s arrest and that of his son had nothing to do with the corruption probe launched against his client and the freezing of his assets last week, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Sunday.
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