The Cassation Court has set January 9 for the ruling session in the appeal filed by former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to challenge a previous verdict sentencing each of them to three years in rigorous imprisonment for stealing some 125 million pounds that had been allocated for renovating presidential palaces.

In May, Cairo Criminal Court had also ordered them to pay a collective fine of about 125 million pounds and return 21 million to the State.

According to investigations, the three used state funds for personal purposes – designing and furnishing their real-estate property in Cairo's posh Heliopolis and Katameya Heights districts and Sharm El-Sheikh and Marina resorts – in the period between 2002 and 2011.

Earlier on Saturday, the prosecution requested that the court overrule the appeal and uphold the previous ruling issued by Cairo Criminal Court in May.

But Mubarak's lawyer requested that the three defendants be acquitted of all charges.

Sources: MENA