September 11, 2012 -- Updated 1610 GMT (0010 HKT)
Egypt's former prime minister Ahmed Shafik, pictured in Cairo on February 21, 2011.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Shafik tells Egyptian newspaper he expected charges
- NEW: The corruption probe includes Mubarak sons, two generals
- Shafik is suspected of involvement in alleged corrupt real estate dealings
- He left Egypt in June for the United Arab Emirates
The move is tied to an
investigation into alleged corrupt real estate dealings involving the
illegal sale of state property to the sons of former President Hosni
Mubarak.
Shafik, a former air
force chief and the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak, lost a
June presidential runoff to Mohammed Morsy. He left Egypt for the United
Arab Emirates after the vote, but his attorney told CNN at the time
that he was not fleeing the country.
And in an interview with
Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram newspaper on Tuesday, Shafik said he expected
the charges and would await the results of an investigation.
The judge ordered Shafik
held in connection with the sale of 40,000 square meters (9.9 acres) of
land in the lakeside city of Ismailia to Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa.
The judge also referred allegations against Gamal Mubarak, two Egyptian
generals and a member of the country's pilot officer's association to a
criminal court for investigation.
The allegations against
them include profiteering, facilitating the seizure of public property,
forging official documents and deliberately damaging public property,
MENA reported. Four of the counts involve Shafik alone.
Legal petitions accusing
Shafik of corruption were submitted in April, but prosecutors had taken
no action against him when he left for the UAE, his attorney, Showee
Elsayed, told CNN at the time.
CNN's Aroub Abdelhaq and John Defterios contributed to this report.
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