An Egyptian court yesterday sentenced a close aide to former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali to 10 years in prison for corruption and asked the prosecution to question the former minister again in the case. Until his departure from the government in July, Wali was one of the most powerful members of the Cabinet, a deputy prime minister and a leading member of the ruling party. He had been in office for more than two decades. The Cairo criminal court found his aide, Youssef Abdel Rahman, guilty of taking $110,000 in bribes in connection with imports of insecticides found to be carcinogenic and allowing French and Japanese companies to dominate the market. The judge in the Cairo criminal court, Ezzat El-Ashmawi, said the prosecution should investigate Wali too because he had signed a document authorizing the imports. Abdel Rahman's assistant, Randa El-Shami, was sentenced to seven years in prison in the same case for taking bribes worth $125,000 and 60,000 Egyptian pounds ($9,654). Sixteen others received sentences of between one and five years.