Judges assigned by Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki started Wednesday investigating the lawsuit filed by lawyer Mahfouz Eissa accusing Gamal Mubarak and eight of his partners of illegaly seizing land — an area of 25,000 feddans/acres, property of the General Authority for Rehabilitation Projects and Agricultural Development in Minya governorate.

Mahfouz said that Mubarak's partners — Sherif Tantawi, Ahmed Salah El-Qady, Sultan Al-Adham, Osama El-Sherif, Omar El-Tanbouly, Tarek Hamzawy, Omar Tantawi, and Omar Badr — seized the land with the help of officials in the Ministry of Agriculture, including former Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza, head of the reconstruction and agricultural projects Mahmoud Abdel Bar, head of the Central Department for Ownership and Disposition Amin El-Maadawy and Minya Governor Ahmed Diaa.

The lawsuit alleges that Mubarak's partners formed a company named "Al-Kayan" for land reclamation. Using Mubarak's influence, they received approvals from the General Authority for Rehabilitation Projects and Agricultural Development to sell the land to investors. The National Centre for State and Land Use Planning had, however, earlier refused the land being sold, since it was not the property of the agriculture ministry and was originally allocated to the Land Development Authority for establishing the new city of Samallut.

Al-Kayan is accused of seizing vast areas of land and selling it to Egyptian and foreign investors, realising profits of over a billion Egyptian pounds without paying any dues to the state.

The judges assigned by Mekki decided to form a committee of graft and public funds experts to look into the legal position of the company while investigating the misuse of public land and waste of public monies.

Although he was acquitted of corruption charges in an earlier case, Gamal Mubarak and his brother, Alaa, are currently being detained on additional corruption-related charges, including stock market manipulation and profiteering. Gamal and Alaa are currently detained at Tora Prison.