CAIRO, Feb 7 (Aswat Masriya) - A Cairo court banned on Sunday former interior minister Habib al-Adly and a dozen others from travel, as Adly faced the latest charge brought against him.

Adly is accused of "abuse of office" by issuing rewards to police officers and ministry officials. He and a dozen other interior ministry officials were referred to trial, on charges of seizing over EGP 2.3 billion ($293 million).

The former interior minister was dismissed from his post in January 2011 by then-President Hosni Mubarak who dismissed his entire cabinet in the midst of the 2011 Uprising. The 18-day-long protests began on national police day and were partly an expression against police practices.

The court scheduled the next hearing for Feb. 28 and handed the 13 defendants freezing injunctions, preventing them from disposing of their money.

Adly's lawyer Farid El-Deeb said after the hearing that the court's decision turns it into an "investigating authority, which is unlawful." The lawyer said a judge from the justice ministry had been investigating the matter for three years and he did not request freezing injunctions.

When the investigation began in 2012, the judge running it slapped a travel ban on Adly and over 100 security officials being investigated. Adly's travel ban lasted six months, while the rest were banned from travel for a year but the decision was never renewed throughout the course of the investigation.

The investigating judge dismissed around 90 of those under investigation after they repaid over EGP 150 million ($19.1 million), asserting that they had received the funds in good faith.

Like several of Mubarak's top officials, Adly faced several charges after the president's 30-year rule ended in February 2011. The former interior minister was taken into custody days after Mubarak's removal and has since been put on five trials including the ongoing one which he faced today.  

Adly was served a ratified sentence in one trail and was acquitted in three others.

In March 2015, the former interior minister was released from Tora prison after spending over four years in custody.