Ahmed Ezz to pay 1.7 bln pounds in reconciliation deal with Egyptian government

By Yomna Yasser On Mar 1, 2018

Mubarak-era steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz will pay 1.7 billion Egyptian pounds as part of a reconciliation deal with the Egyptian government, Egypt’s prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek said in a statement on Wednesday.

Sadek, who heads the national committee tasked with recovering funds from abroad, said that the payment includes 600 million pounds of Ezz’s funds recovered from abroad.

Ezz, who was released from prison on bail in 2014, served as the secretary-general of former president Hosni Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP). He also acted as the spokesperson of the then ruling NDP in parliament between 2005 and 2010.

Following the 2011 uprising, Ezz was sentenced to prison in several corruption cases, but most of the verdicts against him were later overturned.

Ezz is currently facing retrial in the “Dekheila steel case,” where he faces charges of squandering public funds and illegally acquiring the Dekheila steel plant. Ezz has requested to reconcile with the government in the case.

In March 2013, Ezz was sentenced to 37 years in prison and fined 2 billion pounds by a criminal court for profiteering and squandering public funds.

In December 2013, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling and ordered a retrial.

Ezz is the former chairman of Ezz Steel, the largest steelmaker in the Middle East and North Africa, which controls some 50 percent of Egypt’s steel market.

Source: Ahram online