Ex-Mubarak aide sentenced to 7 years for financial corruption in Egypt

An Egyptian court sentenced Zakaria Azmi, who served as chief of staff of former President Hosni Mubarak, to seven years in jail and fined him $6 million for illicit profiteering.

Azmi had been subject to a prohibition on leaving the country in March 2011, like other senior officials of the regime after the downfall of Mubarak a few weeks earlier. He was remanded in custody and his trial on corruption charges was opened in October 2011, as part of a series of legal proceedings against the inner circle of Mubarak and his son, Gamal, the Middle East News Agency reported.

Adviser to Mr. Mubarak since 1989, Azmi was also a senior leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the former ruling party.

Following Mubarak's fall, state prosecutors arrested five high-ranking officials: interior minister Habib el-Adly, housing minister Ahmed Maghrabi, tourism minister Zuheir Garana, Safwat el-Sherif, speaker of the upper house of parliament, and Fathi Sorour, speaker of the lower house.

The announcement of the verdict while the trial was almost forgotten occurs days after the first round of presidential vote was completed.

The two finalists for the second round on June 16-17 are the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi and the last Prime Minister of Mubarak, Ahmad Shafiq. The two men, looking to expand their support to win the presidency, have both promised to respect the achievements of the "revolution".

Meanwhile, the verdict in the trial of Mubarak, on trial for corruption and the deaths of demonstrators during the revolt against his rule, is expected on June 2.

Mubarak, who has pleaded not guilty is accused along with his Interior Minister Habib el-Adli and six former officials of the security services. Both the former president's sons, Alaa and Gamal, are accused along with their father for corruption.

In related news, The U.S. Former President Jimmy Carter said in statement that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will commit to peace treaty with Israel signed in 1979, noting that they may ask for amendments over the treaty.

Commenting on fears over a possible deterioration in Israeli-Egyptian relations, Carter said , "I ​​think any amending on the Convention will not take place unilaterally" stressing that no violation was recorded by any of the parties to the convention since being assigned, the Middle East News Agency reported.

Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/27/216806.html