EGYPT’S EX-MINISTER SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON

An Egyptian court has convicted the country’s ex-housing minister of corruption and sentenced him to five years in prison. The official Middle East news Agency on May 26 said that Ahmed El-Maghrabi was found guilty of intentionally damaging public finances by allowing a businessman to illegally acquire state land. The businessman, Mounir Ghabbour, received a one-year suspended sentence. El-Maghrabi was accused of illegally selling 18 acres of state land at cut-rate prices to Ghabbour.