CAIRO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Tuesday a former director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina to three and a half years in prison for the embezzlement of public funds, the MENA news agency reported.
Ismail Serageldin, a close friend to the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was found guilty of embezzling 20 million Egyptian pounds (1.1 million U.S. dollars) in the state funds.
He was accused of renting facilities affiliated to the library at low prices, hiring advisers with tens of thousands of pounds and taking private tours at the library's expense.
Dozens of top aids and ministers under Mubarak, who was toppled in mass protests in 2011, are facing or being tried over corruption, embezzlement and graft charges.
Mubarak, along with his two sons, was sentenced to three years in prison over using the state funds allocated for the presidential palaces' maintenance for personal interests.
