Mubarak’s sons charged with stock manipulation

CAIRO - The Associated Press

Hosni Mubarak’s two sons have been accused of insider trading in a new case opened just three days before they and their father are to hear the verdict in a separate trial on charges of corruption and complicity in killing protesters during last year’s uprising.

Mubarak and his two sons, the one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa, are already on trial for separate charges of corruption. They have all been in prison since April 2011, two months after a popular, 18-day uprising forced Mubarak to step down after 29 years in office. Mubarak, his sons and security chiefs will learn tomorrow whether they have been found guilty of murder and corruption. The former leader could get the death penalty if convicted on the charges linked to killing protesters.

A statement by the prosecutor-general’s office on the new charges said the Mubarak sons, along with seven others, made $300 million in illicit gains. Their actions violated central bank and stock market regulations, it said. The nine are accused of conspiring to stealthily buy a controlling 80 percent stake in Al Watany Bank of Egypt without declaring their share to the stock market authority, it added. They later traded its shares through closed funds and investment companies based abroad.

Gamal Mubarak was viewed by many as a corrupt politician who used his father’s position to illegally amass a fortune while working along with a coterie of regime-backed wealthy businessmen and powerful politicians to ensure that he succeeded his father.