Former Egypt PM Shafiq charged with new graft crimes

CAIRO // Egypt's justice ministry today referred former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq to the Cairo criminal court on charges of corruption and squandering public funds, judicial sources said.

Mr Shafiq who has been living in the UAE since his defeat in the election, faces arrest on his return to Egypt after he was put on an airport watch list.

He is being investigated along with his daughters and 10 other defendants over illegally seizing public land for use by the Pilot Association, which Mr Shafiq headed.

Mr Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, is already facing trial in a separate fraud cases.

The former air force commander narrowly lost a June presidential election to Mohammed Morsi.

The trial will be the latest in a series of court actions that have jailed much of the former regime's leadership, including Mubarak himself.