CAIRO – An Egyptian court on Monday upheld a one-year prison sentence against former Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, who headed the government of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Qandil was sentenced in April, before Morsi's July 3 downfall, for failing to implement a court ruling to renationalize a textile company sold off by the administration of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Judge Khaled Hassan said the prison sentence must now be carried out. Morsi appointed Qandil in July 2012, after the Muslim Brotherhood politician won Egypt's first freely contested presidential election. Morsi was deposed by the army on July 3 after mass protests against his rule. He is in detention charged with crimes including inciting the killing of protesters. The sentence against Qandil related to a 2011 court ruling demanding the government repurchase textile company Tanta Flax and Oils from a Saudi Arabian investor who bought it in 2005. Officials in the Qandil government had said renationalizing state enterprises was not straightforward and the company had been broken up since it was sold to the foreign investor. Egyptian courts have issued at least 11 rulings since the revolution that toppled Mubarak ordering the state to reverse deals signed by the former president's administration. The lawsuits have been brought by activists and lawyers who say companies were sold off too cheaply and were representative of corrupt business practices during the Mubarak era. The subsequent rulings have plunged a number of foreign companies operating in Egypt into legal limbo, exposing the government to the risk of costly international arbitration that could scare off much-needed investment from abroad. – Reuters
