Egypt's former housing minister Ahmed El-Maghrabi (R) and former tourism minister Zohair Garana (Photo: Reuters)
An Egyptian criminal court acquitted on Wednesday former housing minister Ahmed Maghraby and former tourism minister Zuheir Garana, both of whom served under former president Hosni Mubarak, of profiteering and squandering public funds between 2005 and 2010.
Maghraby and Garana were retried in a case where Maghraby was accused of selling a piece of state-owned land in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada for $1.4 million below market price to a tourism company where Garana was a major stakeholder.
In March 2013, the two ministers were acquitted in the case, but a top appeals court reversed the verdict and ordered a retrial upon an appeal by the prosecutor-general.
Last month, the same court acquitted Garana in a 2016 case where he and his family were charged with illegally acquiring EGP 19 million during his tenure as minister from 2005 to 2011.
Garana still faces trial over two corruption and illicit gain cases.
Maghraby is also still being tried for graft in another case.
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