Egypt: trial of Abu al-Fotouh started over escaping customs

Egyptian judicial sources said that the financial and administrative court decided yesterday to release the businessman Husam Abu al-Fotouh at the beginning of his trial under the charge of escaping customs fees and having commodities of unknown origin.

The sources said that the "court releases Abu al-Fotouh and postponed considering his case until January 20." The Egyptian authorities said that it confiscated in one of Abu al-Fotouh houses some 1700 bottles of wines which the customs estimated its price at 6 million Egyptian Pound ( USD 3.1 million.)

The Egyptian attorney general had issued a decision banning Abu al-Fotouh, his wife and children, from using their properties and money until the end of the investigations with him on having loans of a value of 4.1 million Egyptian pound without enough guarantees and his difficulty in paying them back.