CAIRO, Dec. 3 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's Court of Cassation accepted on Wednesday the appeal presented by former prime minister Ahmed Nazeef against a prison sentence for graft, ordering a retrial.

The country's highest court will view the case and issue a decision on it on Feb. 3.

Nazeef, who served under toppled President Hosni Mubarak until the start of an uprising in 2011, was accused of exploiting his position to make "illicit gains" worth EGP 64 million ($8.17 million), as per investigations by Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority.

He was also accused of accepting gifts from national press associations.

In July, he was sentenced to five years in prison, fined and ordered to return millions of Egyptian pounds, in a retrial of the case.

The former prime minister was initially sentenced to three years in prison on graft charges in September 2012. The sentence was overturned by Egypt's Cassation Court in June 2013, initiating a retrial.

Like many ministers and top officials during Mubarak's later years in power, Nazeef was arrested shortly after the overthrow of Mubarak's regime and has since faced multiple charges.

Officials, including Mubarak, have mostly been acquitted.