24 May 2011

Former Egyptian Housing Minister Arrested for Corruption

Ibrahim Soliman, the former Egyptian Housing Minister from 1993-2005 under now-deposed President Hosni Mubarak, has been arrested on charges of corruption. Mr. Soliman came under fire first in 2009 from independent members of the Egyptian parliament for allegedly corrupt real estate deals connected to family members and high-level government officials.

Mr. Soliman is the second former Housing Minister to be questioned over corruption issues, as Ahmed el-Maghrabi is also standing trial for surrounding real estate to Egypt’s second-largest real estate developer, Palm Hills, via a third, foreign comapny supposedly set up solely for this transaction.

The combination of these two arrests augur poorly for the stability of Egyptian real estate countries dating back to the Mubarak era, as the courts ruled last year that a deal with the Talat Moustafa Group (TMG) was illegal.

For the original story from News Daily, (story via Reuters), please click here.