Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Passing the buck

		18 - 24 July 2002 Issue No. 595 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Passing the buck
Mohamed El-Wekil's lawyer described allegations of bribery against his client -- the news director of Egypt's state-owned television -- as weak. Jailan Halawi reports

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Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahed referred Mohamed El-Wekil, the news director of Egypt's state-owned television apparatus, to court yesterday on charges of demanding and receiving bribes. El-Wekil was arrested at his office on 7 July after a sting operation mounted by the police.
Hani Abdel-Latif and Ahmed El-Hassisi, members of the research team of a popular three- hour daily news programme called Sabah Al- Khair Ya Masr (Good Morning Egypt), were charged with acting as middle-men between guests and El-Wekil. Fakher Fouad El-Guindi, a medical doctor, was charged with supplying a bribe. Although El-Guindi was not involved in the initial case, investigations allegedly revealed that he had previously given the same team a bribe.
According to police reports, El-Wekil was arrested in a sting operation conducted by both the Administrative Monitoring Office (AMO) -- in charge of investigating allegations of official impropriety -- and state security officials who handle crimes that threaten national security.
The AMO had received a complaint from Mohamed Fathi, a medical doctor, alleging that Fathi had been asked to pay a bribe in order to appear as a guest on Sabah Al-Khair Ya Masr.
According to Fathi, he was approached by Hani Abdel-Latif, a member of the programme's research team, who asked him to pay LE10,000 to appear on the programme. Sources close to the investigation told Al-Ahram Weekly -- on the customary condition of anonymity -- that Abdel-Latif introduced himself to the doctor as the middle-man between guests and the station's top-ranking officials.
Subsequently, the AMO asked Fathi to go along with the scheme, and prepared the required amount of money to be handed over to Abdel-Latif. Following his appearance on the programme, Fathi told Abdel-Latif that the money was ready in an envelope in his car, parked near the television building, and gave him the keys to go and collect it.
Abdel-Latif was arrested after opening the car and taking possession of the money. He denied, however, having anything to do with the bribe, telling police that he was only doing the job on behalf of Ahmed El-Hassisi, a university professor who heads the programme's research team.
When El-Hassisi was subsequently arrested, he too denied having any connections to the bribe, telling investigators that his role was limited to collecting the money from the middle-man, on behalf of the senior TV official, El-Wekil.
At this point, the monitoring office tapped El- Wekil's phone line, recording his calls up until the handover, which -- according to officials -- was filmed. Officials said one of the recorded phone calls was between El-Hassisi and El- Wekil, during which El-Hassisi allegedly both informed El-Wekil that the doctor had paid a huge amount of money, and asked for an appointment to deliver the full amount.
The police subsequently accompanied El- Hassisi to the TV building and arrested El-Wekil as he took the money. Although it appears as though El-Wekil was caught red-handed, his lawyer Farid El-Deeb described the allegations against his client as "weak". He said that El- Hassisi was trying to exonerate himself, since "according to the law, the person who gives the bribe as well as the middle-man can be acquitted as long as they provide information on the person who receives the bribe."
Although the police reports indicated otherwise, El-Deeb said his client never took the envelope. He said El-Wekil thought the money being brought in by El-Hassisi was a bonus for the TV show's cast for broadcasting a seminar given by a Zagazig University professor -- the norm when a TV show promotes a government body's activities.
According to police, however, El- Wekil was taped while taking the envelope from El- Hassisi, and then throwing it on the floor as the police raided his office.
Following El- Wekil's arrest, police reportedly seized large sums of cash and jewelry from his office, as well as womens' clothing and a piece of hashish that was subsequently sent for examination to the forensics lab. El-Deeb said the money and jewelry were presents sent to El-Wekil from his friends in the Gulf, and that the women's clothes belonged to one of El-Wekil's daughters.
Sherine, one of El- Wekil's daughters, said that she is certain of her father's innocence. She told the Weekly that her father "has been at his post -- a sensitive post appointed by the presidency and renewed annually by the prime minister -- for almost five years".
Sherine said that she does not consider the situation a crisis, but rather "a test from God".
She was highly critical of what she called the "fierce, inaccurate" reports about her father in the press.
El-Wekil's high- ranking position has inspired a fierce press campaign, with some reports going so far as to accuse the entire television apparatus of corruption. Even with investigations still in progress, much of the reporting has already branded El-Wekil as guilty.

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