Egypt's 'Iron Lady' on trial after 22-year on the run

CAIRO, Aug 30, 2009 (AFP) - An Egyptian woman who fled the country 22 years ago after defrauding people of millions of dollars, went on trial Sunday following her arrest at the airport on a surprise return to Egypt.

Hoda Abdel Moneim, 62, dubbed the "Iron Lady" by the press, appeared in court after public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud ordered her retrial on Saturday, a judicial source told AFP.

She faces fraud charges in connection with a pyramid scheme she ran in the 1980s, swindling over 45 million Egyptian pounds (around eight million dollars).

At the time she was banned from travel pending an investigation but managed to flee the country in mysterious circumstances and in 1996 she was sentenced in absentia to 64 years in prison.

Abdel Moneim had fled Egypt in 1986 after defaulting on bank loans and following complaints from people that she failed to deliver property sold to them.

She was arrested on Friday on landing at Cairo airport when authorities found she was travelling on an expired passport, the judicial source said.

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