CAIRO, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Monday a former governor to 10 years in prison after his conviction of bribery and corruption related to large amounts of public funds.
Hesham Abdel-Baset, former governor of Minufiya province north of the capital Cairo, was arrested in mid-January, along with two businessmen, and was accused of receiving a bribe of about 27.5 million Egyptian pounds (about 1.5 million U.S. dollars) for assigning four state projects to businessmen at highly exaggerated costs.
Giza Criminal Court also ordered the 47-year-old ex-official on Monday to pay a fine of 15 million pounds (over 800,000 dollars) that will be seized from his properties.
The two other defendants, the briber and the middleman, have been pardoned after their detailed confessions.
Egypt has been launching a massive anti-corruption campaign over the past few years that led to the arrest and imprisonment of several officials and senior employees and the retrieval of large amounts of public funds.
