Egypt bourse freezes assets of prominent businessman Salah Diab

Chairman of the Egyptian bourse Mohamed Omran stated that he received an official notice from the general prosecution Friday to freeze the assets and accounts of Egyptian business mogul Salah Diab and 16 others, state owned MENA agency reported.

Omran said the bourse administration immediately implemented the decision, banning the named businessmen from trading in the stock market.

On Sunday, a Giza prosecution ordered the detention of Diab for four days for questioning over his alleged possession of unlicensed firearms.

Diab, a business mogul and the co-owner of Egypt’s largest independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, was arrested early on Sunday morning at his villa in Giza on charges of possessing unlicensed firearms after security forces stormed his house on orders from the prosecution, according to his family lawyer.

Diab’s lawyer Farid El-Deeb said that his client’s arrest and that of his son at the same time 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.

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 very low price, and built tourist resorts on those plots in violation of the contract.

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 the newspaper.
Cairo Criminal Court will hold a session to rule on the asset freeze on Tuesday.

Source: Ahram Online