An Egyptian businessman who co-owns Al-Masry Al-Youm daily newspaper was arrested on corruption charges at his villa in Giza on Sunday morning, two days after his assets were frozen by prosecutors, a security source told Al-Ahram's Arabic website.
Salah Diab's son was also arrested on the same charges.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that Diab's lawyer Farid El-Deeb said that his client’s arrest had nothing to do with the corruption probe or the freezing of his assets last week.
"My sources are saying that Salah Diab and his son were arrested because of illegal possession of unlicensed weapons," El-Deeb told the daily newspaper.
The newspaper also added that its sources in the Giza Security Directorate confirmed that the renowned businessman and his son were arrested because of unlicensed weapons.
The Public Funds Prosecution Bureau had received a complaint in 2011 that Diab and the other suspects had acquired agricultural land on the Alexandria Desert Road from the agriculture ministry at very low prices, and built tourist resorts on those plots.
The prosecutor-general had ordered that Diab's assets be frozen on Friday, along with those of his wife and a number of other associates, including other co-founders of the newspaper.
Cairo Criminal Court will hold a session on the asset freeze on Tuesday.
Diab co-founded Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper in 2004.
"Despite the shock that this piece of news generated in different environments, a shock that originally goes back to the timing of the issuing of this decision even though the matter was brought up five years ago, Al-Masry Al-Youm assures that it abides by its constant oath to our kind readers, and continues assuming its professional and patriotic role," the newspaper said in a statement Friday.
