Egypt's former trade minister returns $2.2m of state's funds

Egypt’s Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim on Thursday removed former minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid from the to-be-arrested list after the latter paid back LE15 million (roughly $2.2 million) relating to two cases in which he is accused of squandering public funds, Mostafa Dewidar spokesperson of the prosecution office, told Ahram Online. Rachid, currently outside Egypt, served as the minister of trade under Egyptian toppled President Hosni Mubarak from 2004 to 2011. In 2011 the former minister was sentenced in absentia to a total of 20-years in prison over graft and corruption charges. Legal experts, requesting to be unnamed, told Ahram Online on Thursday that the Prosecutor General’s move paves the way for reconciliation with Egypt's Mubarak-era fugitive figures. Source: Ahram Online