Mubarak pleaded not guilty to corruption charges

Former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal pleaded not guilty to charges of siphoning more than 100 million pounds allocated for presidential palaces in the first session of their trial on Wednesday. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat had referred the case to the criminal court after adding four new defendants. The Supreme Public Funds Prosecution had quizzed Mubarak and his sons, Alaa and Gamal, about the accusations before but the case was later sent back to the prosecution to complete the probe after adding four new defendants. Prosecutors say Mubarak and his sons spent funds allocated for presidential palaces to make some decorations at their personal real estate. The new defendants are: Mohieldin Abdel-Hakim, an engineer at the central administration of the presidency's communications department, Amr Khedr, an engineer at the presidency, and Abdel-Hakim Mansour and Magda Hassan, engineers at the Arab Contractors Company. The four are in charge of the communications center project. Source: MENA