CAIRO, Dec 10 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's Court of Cassation overturned on Saturday sentences against former speaker of the Shura Council Safwat al-Sherif and one of his sons, Ehab, for profiteering and abusing power for personal gain.

The court ordered a retrial for Sherif and Ehab. 

In May, Sherif and Ehab were sentenced to five years in prison while Sherif's other son, Ashraf, was sentenced in absentia  to ten years in prison. The defendants were also fined approximately EGP 209 million.

Sherif and Ehab attended the court session on Saturday. Ashraf is still at large.

The Illicit Gains Authority, under the Ministry of Justice, referred the defendants to trial in 2012 for illegally making profits amounting to EGP300 million.

An investigation revealed that Sherif made the aforementioned profits by using his various public posts for personal gain. Sherif was the head of the State Information Service, an official news service and public relations agency; the head of Egyptian Radio and Television Union; minister of information and speaker of the parliament’s upper house, the Shura Council.

Egyptian authorities came into confrontation with a long history of corruption cases involving several Mubarak-era ministers and businessmen following the January 2011 uprising, which toppled Mubarak after 18 days of mass protest.

But most of Mubarak-era officials, including Mubarak himself, have been either acquitted, had sentences against them overturned or reached reconciliation deals with the government.