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| Egyptian Court Convicts Mubarak of Embezzlement | Egyptian Court Convicts Mubarak of Embezzlement |
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| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. | 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. |
| 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. “They deserve to be punished.” | |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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 be a free man again. Mr. Sisi led the ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected president last summer and, having resigned from the military in March to run for president, is now expected to succeed him after a pro forma election next week. Critics accuse him of returning Egypt to Mubarak-style autocracy. | 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 be a free man again. Mr. Sisi led the ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected president last summer and, having resigned from the military in March to run for president, is now expected to succeed him after a pro forma election next week. Critics accuse him of returning Egypt to Mubarak-style autocracy. |
| Mr. Sisi has 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. Sisi has 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. |
| But Mr. Mubarak’s conviction could create problems for other high-ranking Egyptians. Under the embezzlement scheme, prosecutors said, 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 that contends 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. | But Mr. Mubarak’s conviction could create problems for other high-ranking Egyptians. Under the embezzlement scheme, prosecutors said, 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 that contends 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. |
| The court on Wednesday found Mr. Mubarak and his sons guilty of embezzling more than $17 million over an eight-year period that ended 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. | The court on Wednesday found Mr. Mubarak and his sons guilty of embezzling more than $17 million over an eight-year period that ended 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. |
| Many expenses related to five vacation homes that the family owned near the seaside resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh as well as a farm east of Cairo. The family also billed the state to design and furnish a private office in a luxury hotel complex for Mr. Mubarak’s wife 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. | Many expenses related to five vacation homes that the family owned near the seaside resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh as well as a farm east of Cairo. The family also billed the state to design and furnish a private office in a luxury hotel complex for Mr. Mubarak’s wife 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. |
| 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; the court declined to rule on their guilt or innocence on Wednesday for technical reasons. | 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; the court declined to rule on their guilt or innocence on Wednesday for technical reasons. |
| But the initial investigation into the case also found 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 said Mr. Mehlib had supervised work on some of the personal projects, although there is no documentation showing that he knew how the work was paid. | But the initial investigation into the case also found 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 said Mr. Mehlib had supervised work on some of the personal projects, although there is no documentation showing that he knew how the work was paid. |
| Mr. Mehlib left Egypt for Saudi Arabia shortly after the 2011 revolt, returning when he was appointed last year to the cabinet of the military-installed government after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, according to news reports. | Mr. Mehlib left Egypt for Saudi Arabia shortly after the 2011 revolt, returning when he was appointed 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. | 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. | The lawsuit against General Tohamy was filed by Moatassem Fathi, a veteran investigator with the government’s Administrative Oversight Authority. |
| Mr. Fathi 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. | Mr. Fathi 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. | 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. | 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. | 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.” | “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.” |