CAIRO – Egyptian authorities ordered the arrest of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq Tuesday on suspicion of corruption, judicial sources said. Shafiq, who has been living abroad in the United Arab Emirates since narrowly losing the first post-Mubarak elections to Mohamed Morsi in June, has been barred from travel using his Egyptian passport since last month. Egyptian authorities referred Shafiq to trial. The officials said judicial authorities referred Shafiq to trial on charges of squandering public funds. The case is linked to his time as the chairman of a housing association in the 1990s when he allegedly sold plots of land at a fraction of their value to Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa. Gamal, Mubarak's onetime heir apparent, and wealthy businessman Alaa are in custody and on trial in a separate case on charges of insider trading. Last month, Shafiq slammed the travel restrictions imposed on him as “political”. He said he would have no hesitation about flying home if he deemed it necessary. The Egyptian judiciary did not mention any extradition request, saying only that he would be arrested if he set foot back in Egypt. Shafiq has been dogged by corruption allegations, some of them linked to the decade he spent as minister of civil aviation, since shortly after Mubarak's fall. He was named prime minister in Mubarak's final days in office and was fired by the military generals who took over when the former president stepped down. – Agencies
