Egypt's former Prime Minister Atef Ebeid was ordered to be held in custody for 15 days over charges of corruption and squandering public funds, official MENA news agency reported on Thursday.

Ebeid has been accused of selling 37 feddans (about 38 acres) of el-Bayada island, a natural reserve in Luxor, to fugitive businessman Hussein Salem. He squandered 200 million Egyptian pounds (about 33.6 million U.S. dollars).

Ebeid was the prime minster of Egypt from October 1999 to July 2004.