CAIRO – Egyptian authorities will detain former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq for questioning over an alleged corruption case if he returns from abroad, a judge said Wednesday. Shafiq, ousted President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, has been placed on a watch list at border points, Judge Osama El-Saeidy said in a statement. Shafiq, who lost a presidential run-off vote against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in June, left Egypt for Abu Dhabi two days after his opponent was declared president. His aides have repeatedly denied Shafiq is on the run, saying he would return soon to launch a new liberal political party, but the threat of arrest could deter him, analysts say. “The investigative judge decided to put General Ahmed Shafiq's name on the watch and travel ban lists based on investigations over his illegal allocation of 40,000 square metres of land... to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak,” Saeidy said. Ex-aide of Mubarak charged with graft Egypt's state news agency says prosecutors have charged one of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak's most trusted men with corruption. MENA quoted a judicial official as saying Wednesday that Safwat El-Sherif, Mubarak's minister of information for nearly two decades, illegally appropriated villas, lands and apartments originally owned by the state. The official said Sherif had also received gifts worth millions of Egyptian pounds from chief editors. – Agencies
