Egyptian Culture Minister Talks with Prosecutors,

Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF


Published: August 30, 2010

Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s minister of culture, said he had been questioned by prosecutors as an investigation continued into the theft of a van Gogh painting from a museum in Giza this month, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Hosni said he volunteered for the interrogation, which lasted more than three hours on Sunday night, to counter accusations that his negligence had led to the theft.

 

The van Gogh, known as “Poppy Flowers” or “Vase and Flowers” and valued at more than $50 million, was taken on Aug. 21 from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, where it hung in a room with only some working cameras and no working alarms. Mr. Hosni said that day that the painting had been recovered at the Cairo airport, then had to retract that statement. In his interrogation, Mr. Hosni said, he told prosecutors he had delegated full responsibility for the museum to Mohsen Shaalan, a deputy culture minister. Mr. Shaalan and four museum guards were detained last week by Egyptian prosecutors.