A Cairo criminal court Sunday sentenced ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's former chief of staff to seven years in jail on corruption charges, a judicial source said. Zakaria Azmi was also ordered to pay a fine of 38 million Egyptian pounds (around $6.2 million), the source said. Azmi was jailed last year and put on trial in October, charged with illegal acquisition of funds. The official Middle East News Agency said the court established that Azmi had used his position to make illicit gains of 42.6 million pounds ($7 million). An aide to Mubarak since 1989, Azmi was considered an influential figure in the presidency and in the now-dissolved National Democratic Party. He joins a host of former ministers and officials handed jail sentences following a sweeping investigation into corruption after the uprising that ended Mubarak's three decade rule. Some have already been sentenced, while others are on trial. The group includes two former prime ministers, the ex-speaker of parliament and several wealthy businessmen and Cabinet ministers who were close to Gamal Mubarak as stalwarts of the now-dissolved ruling party. Mubarak himself faces a verdict on June 2 to determine whether or not he was involved in the killing of protesters during the 18-day revolt. Mubarak, along with Gamal and his other son, Alaa, also faced corruption charges. Mubarak could receive the death penalty if convicted in the killing of the protesters. The sentence comes as vote counting is underway in Egypt's first free presidential election, which will see a run-off between Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, and Mohammed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood banned under the strongman. The Muslim Brotherhood has already started reaching out to failed candidates including third-placed Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi and Islamist Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, who left the organization to run for president. Observers have speculated that the group could offer the vice presidency or the prime minister's office to Sabbahi or Abul Fotouh. For the activists who helped overthrow the regime, many of whom seek a secular, civil state, having to choose between Shafiq and Mursi feels like barely having a choice at all.
