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Egyptian Court Convicts Mubarak of Embezzlement Egyptian Court Convicts Mubarak of Embezzlement
(about 4 hours later)
CAIRO — A criminal court here convicted former President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday of diverting millions of dollars in public money for his personal use in a case that rights advocates say could also now implicate the current prime minister and spy chief in a cover-up. CAIRO — A criminal court here convicted former President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday of embezzling millions of dollars of public money for his personal use in private homes and palaces in a case that rights advocates say could now implicate the current prime minister and spy chief as well.
The court sentenced Mr. Mubarak, 86 and living under house arrest in a military hospital overlooking the Nile, to three years in prison. His sons Gamal and Alaa were each sentenced to four years for their role in the scheme. The court ordered the three to pay penalties and make repayments totaling more than $20 million. After his conviction by the three-judge court, Mr. Mubarak, who is 86 and living in a military hospital overlooking the Nile, was sentenced to three years in prison. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, were each sentenced to four years for their roles in the embezzlement scheme. The court ordered the three to pay penalties and make repayments totaling more than $20 million, apparently in addition to $17 million they have already repaid.
Two years ago, the former president was convicted and received a life sentence in a separate case for directing the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that ended his rule in 2011, but even the presiding judge acknowledged at the time that the evidence was thin, and an appeals court has ordered a retrial. Mr. Mubarak is expected to appeal the new verdict as well, but the evidence appears far more substantial. The former president received a life sentence in a separate case two years ago, for directing the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that ended his rule in 2011. But the presiding judge acknowledged at the time that the evidence was thin, and an appeals court threw out the conviction and ordered a retrial. Mr. Mubarak is expected to appeal the latest verdict as well, although the evidence in this case — including more than a thousand original and forged receipts as well as the testimony of participants in the fraud — is far more substantial.
His conviction on Wednesday, involving his presidential palaces, arguably spares the new government installed by former Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of the potential embarrassment of freeing Mr. Mubarak. Mr. Sisi, who led the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer, is set to win an election next week to replace him. The former military chief has sought to portray his rise to power as an extension of the 2011 uprising against Mr. Mubarak, while critics denounce a return to Mubarak-style autocracy. In interviews, Mr. Sisi has forcefully vowed not to allow a return of the rampant corruption associated with Mr. Mubarak’s three decades in power. Mr. Mubarak “gave himself and his sons license to embezzle public funds, helping themselves without oversight or consideration,” Judge Osama Shaheen said in announcing the verdict on Wednesday. “Therefore, they deserve to be punished.”
Mr. Mubarak’s conviction turns on a diversion of funds with the complicity of the state-run construction company then headed by Ibrahim Mehleb, who is now the prime minister of the government Mr. Sisi installed. And a former corruption investigator involved in documenting the charges has filed a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Mubarak’s embezzlement was deliberately covered up by a former chief corruption watchdog, Gen. Mohamed Farid el-Tohamy, a former mentor to Mr. Sisi whom the field marshal named as chief of general intelligence. Whether Mr. Mubarak remains in the military hospital by his own choice or under a form of detention is unclear, and there were no signs of his immediate transfer to prison on Wednesday.
Over an eight-year period ending in 2011, prosecutors said, Mr. Mubarak conspired to embezzle more than $17 million by billing lavish personal expenses to the state-owned construction giant, Arab Contractors, as telecommunications system maintenance. The court filings named two low-level Arab Contractors employees as collaborators in the fraud, but a preliminary investigation also alleged that Mr. Mehleb may have knowingly approved of the diversion, said Hossam Bahgat, a former Egyptian rights advocate and journalist who has reviewed the initial investigation and court papers. But the new conviction may spare the government installed last summer by the country’s defense minister, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a potential embarrassment: the chance that Mr. Mubarak might walk the streets a free man again. Mr. Sisi, who resigned from the military in March to run for president, is poised to win next week’s election, and critics accuse him of returning Egypt to Mubarak-style autocracy.
That preliminary inquiry was conducted by Moatassem Fathi, an investigator at the government’s Administrative Oversight Authority, and in court filings and televised interviews he has charged that under Mr. Mubarak, the authority’s director, General Tohamy, suppressed the inquiry into the presidential palaces along with several others that might have embarrassed top officials. Mr. Sisi has instead sought to portray his rise to power as an extension of the 2011 uprising and has vowed not to allow a return of the high-level corruption that flourished during Mr. Mubarak’s three decades in power.
Mr. Fathi resigned in frustration shortly before the 2011 uprising. Afterward, he won his job back in a court case charging that he had been wrongly penalized by the authority for his corruption investigations, and he ultimately gathered the evidence and testimonies that led to the case. But Mr. Mubarak’s conviction could create problems for other high-ranking Egyptians. Under the scheme, prosecutors say, public funds were diverted with the complicity of the state-run construction company, the Arab Contractors. Its chairman at the time was Ibrahim Mehlib, who is now prime minister of the government Mr. Sisi installed. And a corruption investigator who built the case has filed a lawsuit alleging that his former boss — Gen. Mohamed Farid el-Tohamy, once a high-ranking corruption watchdog — suppressed the inquiry and covered up the evidence. General Tohamy, a mentor to Mr. Sisi during his army career, is now the new government’s chief of general intelligence.
After the election of Mr. Morsi as president, Mr. Fathi filed a legal complaint and gave television interviews charging that General Tohamy had covered up corruption investigations. Mr. Morsi fired General Tohamy, and prosecutors initiated an inquiry against him. The court on Wednesday found Mr. Mubarak and his sons guilty of embezzling more than $17 million over an eight-year period ending in 2011. In court filings, the prosecutors accused the Mubaraks of fraudulently billing the government for personal expenses, including utility bills, interior design, landscaping, home furnishings, refrigerators, other electrical appliances and even kitchen supplies, for a variety of private homes as well as a public palace that was fraudulently transferred to their ownership.
But after Mr. Sisi ousted Mr. Morsi last summer, the new government immediately named General Tohamy — a close ally of Mr. Sisi’s — to the more senior position of head of general intelligence, Egypt’s spy chief. Mr. Fathi’s complaint was all but forgotten, and he was soon demoted. Recently, he was transferred again to a desk job at the legal affairs department of the Ministry of Trade. Many expenses related to five vacation homes that the family owned near the seaside resort city of Sharm el-Sheik as well as a farm east of Cairo. The family also billed the state to design and furnish a private office for Mr. Mubarak’s wife in a luxury hotel complex and an office that the sons used to run an investment business. Other expenses included the renovation of a villa and the installation of an elevator to the roof of one home and a Jacuzzi for another. The government paid for a new palace wing to accommodate the birth of a Mubarak granddaughter and for a mausoleum for a grandson who had died.
“The political environment under Mr. Mubarak was tough because there was no real political will to seriously go after corrupt officials,” Mr. Fathi told Mr. Bahgat, the former rights advocate, in a detailed report on the case that was published Tuesday in an online publication, Mada Masr. “I thought all of this would change with Mubarak’s ouster, but the revolution was not given a chance to govern.” All the expenses were fraudulently recorded as the costs of work on a special presidential telecommunications system that is maintained by the Arab Contractors. The prosecutors named two low-level Arab Contractors employees as collaborators, and on Wednesday the court declined to rule on their guilt or innocence for technical reasons.
Mr. Fathi could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. But the initial investigation into the case also alleged that Mr. Mehlib, a close ally of the Mubaraks, knowingly approved of the diversion, according to court papers reviewed by The New York Times and described in the online publication Mada Masr. In depositions, witnesses say Mr. Mehlib supervised work on some of the personal projects, although there is no documentation showing that he knew how the work was paid for.
Mr. Mehlib left Egypt for Saudi Arabia shortly after the 2011 revolt, returning when he was named last year to the cabinet of the military-installed government after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, according to news reports.
Mr. Mehlib and General Tohamy could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, and a government spokesman did not respond to messages.
The lawsuit against General Tohamy was filed by Moatassem Fathi, a veteran investigator with the government’s Administrative Oversight Authority.
Mr. Fathi had resigned from the agency on the eve of the 2011 uprising, complaining that his supervisors were thwarting his work. After Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, Mr. Fathi sued to win his job back, and he ultimately gathered the evidence for the Mubarak corruption case.
After Mr. Morsi was elected in 2012, he fired General Tohamy, and prosecutors initiated an inquiry against him.
But two days after Mr. Morsi was ousted last summer, the new government brought back General Tohamy in the more senior position of head of general intelligence, Egypt’s spy chief.
Mr. Fathi’s complaint was all but forgotten, and he was soon demoted. He was recently transferred again to a desk job at the legal affairs department of the Ministry of Trade.
“The political environment under Mr. Mubarak was tough because there was no real political will to seriously go after corrupt officials,” Mr. Fathi told Mada Masr. “I thought all of this would change with Mubarak’s ouster, but the revolution was not given a chance to govern.”