Three former officials of the Port Said ports authority have been sentenced to 5-10 years in prison for taking bribes.

The rulings, by the Cairo criminal court, were found guilty in receiving bribes to illegally grant contracts for the authority to a firm.

Four other defendants were acquitted by the court.

The convicts are the authority's ex-head Ahmed Sharaf Ibrahim, Mohamed Ahmed Abul Ainein Gomaa, the former authority adviser; and Mohamed el-Tabei, the chairman of the engineering department of the authority.

They received the bribes from the construction company over the period from 2012 and 2014.

Source: MENA