Ahmed Ezz, who was recently freed from jail over corruption charges, served as the secretary general of Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP).

Egypt’s steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, who was recently freed from jail over corruption charges following the Jan. 25, 2011 uprising, announced late Saturday that he will run for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“Despite all the warning I received, I still want to share with the Egyptians their development dream,” the 56-year-old Ezz said in a statement.

Ezz, the former owner of Ezz Steel – Egypt’s largest steel manufacturer – was jailed within days after a popular uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

On March 2013, Ezz was sentenced to 37 years in jail but he appealed the verdict. His case was later dropped and he was released after paying $13.9 million.

He was initially charged with embezzling more than six billion Egyptian pounds.

The Mubarak-era figure said his platform would be based upon the economy, and his “real and first battle was basically in manufacturing and development.”

“Strong economic legislation can make this nation move forward with confidence,” he added.

Ezz was a magnate under Mubarak’s regime and was widely believed to have engineered widespread fraud during the 2010 parliamentary elections, securing an unprecedented majority for the National Democratic Party of Egypt (NDP) in the chamber.

Mubarak was the leader of the NDP.

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