CAIRO, Jul 22 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's prosecution announced on Wednesday that it collected "over 12 billion" Egyptian pounds (more than $1.5 billion) in tax evasion cases and retrieved real estate and hundreds of fedans of state land.

The state retrieved 250,000 square metres of land belonging to companies owned by fugitive business tycoon Hussein Salem, the prosecution said in a statement. 

The last years of former president Hosni Mubarak saw an expansion of the business activities, incurring the state losses in land sales and tax evasion.

In May, a Cairo court upheld a decision to confiscate the funds Salem, his wife and others in a graft investigation.  

Mubarak was ousted in 2011 after an uprising and many of his top officials have since been jailed and tried for a slew of charges, including graft and corruption. 

Since Mubarak's toppling in the January 2011 uprising, Salem faced several trials for profiteering from his relation with Mubarak, the illegal acquisition of land in Luxor and charges related to exporting gas to Israel. 

In February, the state's public prosecution reclaimed 9 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.17 billion) initially lost during the sale of a piece of land to a giant real estate project.