Egypt's Morsi-era information minister referred to court

Egypt's prosecutor general referred on Wednesday former information minister, Salah Abdel Maqsoud, to the criminal court over charges of providing state TV equipment to another TV channel which broadcast pro-Morsi demonstrations, state- run MENA news agency reported.

Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat has received several complaints accusing Maqsoud of offering cameras and satellite transmission units, owned by state TV, to one of the satellite channels backing Muslim Brotherhood.

Barakat also ordered to refer to the court another official of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) in the same case.

Abdel Maqsoud, who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi-era minister, is charged, along with Amr el-Khafif, former head of the engineering sector of the ERTU, of helping others illegally profiteer and of deliberately harming the public fund, causing losses of 48 million Egyptian pounds (6.96 million U.S. dollars).

Abdel Maqsoud, who is currently on the run, has also been spotted in the pro-Morsi sit-in in Rabaa Al-Adawia in the capital of Cairo before it was dispersed on Aug. 14.