A misdemeanor court charged businessman Ahmed Ezz and others on Wednesday with monopolizing the steel market. 

The court fined Ezz, the Mubarak-era tycoon, and Alaa Abu al-Kheer with 100 million Egyptian pounds and Sameer Raouf with 500 Egyptian pounds in the same case. 

Ezz is currently standing trial over corruption charges and is detained pending investigations into other charges as well.  

A primary court had ordered that the defendants be freed but a prosecutor appealed the verdict to release them.