Many believed the conflict between a, the chairman of Hamza Associates, and former minister of housing Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman had ended two weeks ago when Hamza was found not guilty at the Old Bailey of four counts of soliciting to murder Suleiman, along with three other senior officials -- People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, former minister of parliamentary affairs Kamal El-Shazli and Presidential Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmi. But during an interview on the programme Itkallim (Talk) in which Hamza, who was arrested in London on 12 July 2004, was talking about his trial, Suleiman -- who was not scheduled to take part in the programme -- called the studio and launched an attack against Hamza. The squabble centred on the Kafr Al-Zayat Bridge tender which was initially awarded to Hamza Associates and then withdrawn by the Ministry of Housing because, Suleiman said, "there were flaws in the design presented by Hamza's company". Hamza told Al-Ahram Weekly that the case of Kafr Al-Zayat Bridge "is a clear example of how corruption in Egypt is widespread and organised". Speaking by phone from London, he called upon concerned authorities to "carefully review documents relating to the project so that the public can find out how things were run at the ministry during Suleiman's tenure". "If the government is honestly seeking reform it has to end corruption in its ministries, otherwise, there is no hope for this country," he said. Four years ago Hamza filed a suit with the State Council against the Ministry of Housing for awarding the contract for the bridge to another company despite the fact that the Hamza Associates' bid, at LE120 million, was less than half the LE300 million the other company had proposed. "I didn't want to delve into corruption at the Ministry of Housing, but what Suleiman said about me on TV challenges my professionalism," stated Hamza. "If there were flaws in the design presented by my office, as Suleiman claimed, why didn't the Roads and Bridges Authority, which studied the design for six months, say so?" He vowed that if an independent authority showed there were design flaws he would "quit the profession, and the [Engineers'] Syndicate can withdraw my licence". Hamza, who has worked on many large scale projects, including the award-winning Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Toshka and Sharq Al-Tafriaa, is currently in London for business, and to examine the possibility of suing the British government for his two- year arrest. Hamza added that Suleiman had "boasted about the Order of Merit which President [Hosni] Mubarak conferred upon him; I would ask an independent authority to review the project and present the results to the president, who can then decide what to do about Suleiman's Order of Merit". Hamza asked the concerned authorities to answer three questions. "First, I would like to know how a tender contested by four companies can turn into a commission given to another company by direct order? Second, how did the responsibility for the project move from a ministry specialised in conducting such projects -- the Ministry of Transportation -- to a non-specialised ministry -- the Ministry of Housing? Third, how was it that the cost of the project rose from LE120 million to LE300 million?" "The problem in Egypt is that nobody wants to know the truth about the corruption which has penetrated every aspect of our life," Hamza complained. Nor is he optimistic that things will change. "Suleiman has many people who are loyal to him everywhere," he said.
