Mubarak Is Asked About Media Gifts

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/world/middleeast/mubarak-is-asked-about-media-gifts.html

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CAIRO — Prosecutors questioned former President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday about $1 million worth of personal gifts he received from a state news organization over his last six years in office, the organization’s Web site reported. 

The investigation, conducted by the office assigned to investigate the misuse of public money, appeared to signal the determination of President Mohamed Morsi to bring new charges against Mr. Mubarak, the ousted former autocrat.

Mr. Mubarak was questioned about gifts, including gold pens, designer neckties, leather bags, shoes, gold jewelry and expensive watches that Al Ahram, which operates several newspapers and other media outlets, gave him from 2006 to 2011 as demonstrations of loyalty, its Web site reported. Al Ahram said Mr. Mubarak was facing possible new charges, including damaging public funds and improperly profiting from the gifts.

Al Ahram had been run by Mubarak loyalists while he was in office, but its management changed after Egypt’s uprising.

He was questioned in a military hospital where he is serving a jail sentence for overseeing the police killing of nonviolent protesters.

That conviction is considered flimsy because the judge who handed it down acknowledged that he had found no evidence. An Egyptian court is considering Mr. Mubarak’s appeal. 

Mr. Morsi campaigned on a pledge to bring new charges against Mr. Mubarak.