Top Mubarak Party Official, Ex-Minister Get Jail Terms

A Cairo court sentenced an Egyptian steel tycoon associated with the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and a fugitive former minister to jail on Thursday in corruption trials.

Ahmed Ezz, a senior member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party and the country's top steel magnate was sentenced to 10 years and fined 660 million Egyptian pounds ($110 million dollars).

The steel licenses for his two companies were also revoked, an Agence France Presse reporter in court for the verdict said.

Former minister of foreign trade Rashid Mohammed Rashid was sentenced in absentia to 15 years -- the third verdict against him since Egypt's military rulers began investigating corruption after the fall of the Mubarak regime.

The verdict was broadcast live on state television.

Ezz, who also was seen to be a mentor of Gamal Mubarak, son of the ousted president and once considered a possible successor to his father, appeared shocked when Judge Mustafa Hassan of the Giza Criminal Court announced the verdict.

A third suspect in the case, Amr Assal, who headed the state-run Industrial Development Agency, was also sentenced to 10 years and fined 660 million pounds.

"May God punish you," Assal told the judge.

Assal was accused of involvement with Rashid in helping Ezz to obtain permits to build two factories in the Suez free trade zone in contravention of existing regulations.

Rashid, who is the subject of an international arrest notice, has already been sentenced to five years for squandering public funds and five years for embezzlement in previous cases. His whereabouts are unknown.

The trials are part of a broad probe into corruption by the country's new military rulers who took power after Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising in February.

The former president and his two sons are currently on trial on murder and corruption charges.

Several former government officials and Mubarak cronies have been sentenced for corruption, including interior minister Habib al-Adly, ex-premier Ahmed Nazif, finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and housing minister Ahmed al-Maghrabi.