Egypt Tycoon Charged Over Lebanese Singer Killing

Egyptian tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa was charged Tuesday with paying $2 million for the brutal killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim, reportedly his ex-lover.

Mustafa was arrested and charged with ordering the murder of Tamim at her upmarket flat in Dubai in July, Egyptian prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.

Tamim, 30, who rose to fame after winning a Lebanese talent show in 1996 but recently had disappeared from the public eye, was stabbed several times and her throat cut, allegedly by a retired policemen paid by Mustafa.

Mustafa, a stalwart of the ruling National Democratic Party and member of the Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of parliament, runs the Talaat Mustafa Group real estate conglomerate worth several billion dollars.

He is also said to be close to President Hosni Mubarak's son and heir apparent Gamel.

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In August, an edition of Egyptian daily Ad-Dustur was seized after it said an unidentified "important Egyptian figure" was involved in the murder. The article alleged that a former Egyptian police officer as well as two hotel security officials had confessed to killing the singer for an Egyptian client.

Mohammed Sayed Said, editor of the independent Al-Badil newspaper, described the move by the often discredited Egyptian judiciary as "very smart" amid billowing rumors over Mustafa's relationship with the regime.

"I think at least it will mend fences and improve the credibility of the regime," Said said. "This shows the state is still keen to implement the law, but we have to see what will be the end result."

"There is still the suspicion that a court that may be inclined to declare him innocent can be used, which would be very damaging indeed," he said, pointing to the July aquittal of most suspects for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1,000 people died.

Mustafa is the youngest son of the founder of the group of 30 companies, Talaat Mustafa, according to the company website. The company works in construction, property and luxury tourist developments as well as land reclamation and agriculture.

The younger Mustafa is described as an accountant by training with "an excellent mix between practical and academic experience." Shares in Talaat Mustafa Group, which were initially offered at 11 Egyptian pounds (around $2) in November, were down sharply in trading on Tuesday.

source zote Google