CAIRO: An Egyptian court has cleared two former ministers of charges that they sold state lands for cut-rate prices in the country's prized Red Sea resort areas.
Former Tourism Minister Zuheir Garana and ex-Housing Minister Ahmed Maghrabi were found not guilty in the case involving the sale of land in the Red Sea resort of Ain Sokhna and the popular tourist city of Hurgahda.
The land was purchased by a businessman from the United Arab Emirates when Hosni Mubarak was president.
State auditors reviewed the case prior to Saturday's verdict.
Garana was sentenced to up to eight years in prison and Maghrabi received a five-year sentence for guilty verdicts in previous corruption trials.
Their requests for appeals have been accepted and the two will be allowed out of prison pending retrials.