The New Cairo Court remanded into custody former Agriculture Minister Salah Hilal on Wednesday. Hilal’s media advisor, Mohi Qadh, Mohamed Fouda and businessman Ayman al-Gamil were also detained for 45 days, pending investigations into charges of taking kickbacks and gifts in exchange for allocating state-owned land to investors for less than their actual value.
Despite the Prosecutor General’s gag order, security sources said that the defense team met to formulate a plan which would strengthen the defendants’ position after the briber said he would confess in order to be acquitted of the charge, in accordance with the new law.
