The tantalising tale of the business tycoon and the slain singer holds Egypt enthralled, writes Shaden Shehab The trial of business tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa has so mesmerised the public that the world economic crisis barely gets a mention in many media outlets. Mustafa is charged with hiring former State Security officer Mohsen El-Sukkari to kill Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. She was murdered on 28 July in an exclusive residential compound in Dubai. El-Sukkari alleges Mustafa paid him $2 million for the contract killing. The billionaire property developer, a member of the Shura Council, was arrested on 2 September, following the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. The trial opened on Saturday at Cairo's Bab Al-Khalq criminal court. The media circus arrived at dawn, having been told that space was limited and people would be admitted on a first come first served basis. By 7am those who could not gain admittance were left pleading with security officials. Inside the courtroom security was tighter than in many terrorist trials. Journalists were searched three times before entering the courtroom, where Mustafa and El-Sukkari sat in two separate, caged docks. Immediately dozens of cameras were fixed on the faces of the two defendants, their every gesture analysed and re- analysed. Some journalists even joked, wanting to know whether Mustafa's white training suit had a designer label. The hearing started at 9am when the judge asked if the defendants were present. He then asked if they had killed Tamim. "I am innocent of her blood, I swear to God," El-Sukkari responded in a shaky voice. Mustafa sounded more confident. "I have submitted all the documents which prove the opposite, your honour," he told the judge. "I depend on God for justice." For more than two hours the prosecution presented evidence against the men, including items of Tamim's clothing, a Swiss Army knife, a fingerprint report, DNA tests, CCTV tapes and transcripts of phone conversations between Mustafa and El-Sukkari discussing the murder. The prosecution alleges that El-Sukkari bought a knife then headed to Tamim's apartment at the Jumeira Beach Residence complex. Disguised as a worker for the apartment's service company he showed the victim a false ID over the video intercom and she admitted him. Once inside her flat he knocked her down and cut her throat. He then threw his bloodstained clothes in a trashcan next to the fire escape below Tamim's apartment and left the building. Dubai police found it easy to collect DNA samples from the abandoned clothes and El-Sukkari was captured on the building's CCTV cameras. The case has all the elements of a soap opera -- wealth, power, and more than a whiff of infidelity. Mustafa is said to have taken out the contract on Tamim's life after she ended their three-year affair. Tamim's personal life certainly seems to have been a complicated business. In court were lawyers representing her second husband, Adel Maatouq, and Iraqi-British athlete Riyadh El-Ezzawi. Both claim to have been married to Tamim at the time of her murder, and are seeking compensation for her death. Abdel-Sattar Tamim, the singer's father, was also represented at the trial, and for the same reason. In reports of the investigations leaked on Tuesday Mustafa claimed the murder is a conspiracy intended to undermine his business interests. He said he had been introduced to Tamim in 2004 by Prince Walid Bin Talal's doctor, and she requested his help in solving her problems with her husband, Maatouq. "I helped her and we got closer and in July or August 2006 I decided to marry her but then I changed my mind," he was quoted as saying. "My mother was against it although Tamim welcomed it." Mustafa insists his only connection with El-Sukkari was through work. El-Sukkari served as head of security at the Four Seasons in Sharm El-Sheikh, which Mustafa part owns. The voice on the taped telephone calls resembled his, said Mustafa, but the calls were fabricated. El-Sukkari told investigators that Mustafa asked him to kill Tamim after she jilted him following a three-year affair for El-Ezzawi. He claims he had no intention of following through the commission and was just stringing Mustafa along for the money. Public interest in the trial is unlikely to wane. Not only is Mustafa a multi-billionaire, he was a member of the Policies Committee of the ruling NDP, deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Economic Committee, and is reputed to have been close to Gamal Mubarak, President Hosni Mubarak's son. Seldom has someone so close to the centres of power stood in a criminal court. Indeed, one question that has vexed the public -- there is a widespread belief that the rich and powerful can, quite literally, get away with murder -- is just how Mustafa came to stand trial. One possible answer to that question might be found in leaked reports that the Dubai authorities had threatened to withdraw investments from Egypt should the trial not go ahead. The next hearing is set for 15 November. Expect the same scramble outside Bab Al-Khalq.
