Egypt judge guilty of taking bribes
A criminal court in the Egyptian city of Alexandria convicted a judge on multiple charges of accepting bribes and sentenced him to 25 years in jail, judicial sources said.
The court also ordered Hisham Hasab Allah to pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($17,240) and confiscated an expensive villa presented to him as a bribe, in a case that has damaged the reputation of the country’s judiciary.
The court also seized jewels belonging to Hasab Allah and ejected him from the bench permanently.
Five other defendants in the case, including a businessman and his wife, were given 15 years in jail for arranging payment of bribes to the judge in exchange for lenient sentences or acquittals for defendants in his court.
The court acquitted seven defendants in accordance with a law that pardons individuals involved in a crime if they bring it to the attention of the authorities before police or present crucial evidence in court.
Hasab Allah was apprehended in September and charged on 14 counts of bribery.
Attorney General Mahir Abd al-Wahid has put many senior government officials and MPs accused of corruption in jail, sending a strong signal in a country where the powerful often defraud the state and evade prosecution by hiding behind their positions.