A Cairo court of cassation acquitted Mubarak-era tourism minister Zohair Garana of corruption charges on Tuesday, Ahram Arabic website reported.

 

The court acquitted Garana and two others defendants of profiteering and squandering public money cancelling the five-year prison sentence in the case known in the media as “The Gamsha land trial.”

In March 2014, a Cairo criminal court sentenced Garana to five-years in prison after he was found guilty of corruption and violation of auction laws in buying land in the resort “Gamsha” in Ain Sohkna.

He appealed the decision.

Two other defendants were sentenced in absentia to five-years in prison in the same trial.

The prosecution already accused the defendants of several criminal charges including profiteering and squandering public money.

Zuhair Garana, who was the minister of tourism during former president Hosni Mubarak's rule from 2006 to 2011, has been facing a number of corruption-related charges and trials since his departure from office in 2011

Source: Ahram online