Egyptian billionaire and key politician Hisham Talaat Mustafa was charged on Tuesday with paying two million dollars for the brutal killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim, reportedly his ex-lover.Mustafa was arrested last week and charged yesterday with ordering the murder of Tamim at her luxury apartment in Dubai on July 28, 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 key member of the ruling National Democratic Party and member of the Shura Council ( senate) , Egypt's upper house of parliament, chairs the multibillion dollar Talaat Mustafa Group real estate conglomerate. He is also said to be close to President Hosni Mubarak's son and heir apparent Gamal Mubarak.
A judicial source said Mustafa, who was born in 1959 in Alexandria , was actually arrested middle of last week after the prosecution ordered the Shura Council Speaker Safwat Al-Sherif lift his parliamentary immunity. Retired Egyptian intelligence officer Mohsen al-Sukari has also been arrested and charged with carrying out the murder, the prosecutor said. Local media said Sukari worked as a security contractor for various Egyptian companies.
Mustafa allegedly paid Sukari two million dollars in cash in advance to go to Dubai and murder her at her apartment in Dubai. He bought a knife, went to her flat saying he worked for the building owner and stabbed the singer to death when she opened the door, the prosecutor said.
Tamim's life had been marred by domestic disputes, including a rocky marriage with her second husband and agent who had accused her in 2004 of being behind an attempt on his life. Tamim was buried in Beirut Lebanon in early August 2008.
Egyptian media said Tamim had a relationship with Mustafa about a three-year period which ended several months ago. The singer then left Egypt for London before moving to Dubai.
In August, an edition of Egyptian daily Al-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.
Al-Dustur's managing editor Ibrahim Eissa was referred to public prosecutors for breaking a ban on publishing articles about the case, a judicial source said. The source said that the public prosecutor had banned the media from reporting on the investigation into the singer's death as it was still in progress.
Mustafa is the youngest son of the founder of the group of 30 companies, Talaat Mustafa, according to the company website. The company is involved 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 two dollars) in November, were trading down sharply at 4,99 pounds on the Egyptian Stock Exchange on Tuesday.