نيويورك تايمز تكشف فساد زاهى حواس

زائر

نيويورك تايمز تكشف فساد زاهى حواس

July 13, 2011

Zahi Hawass near the Giza Pyramids last year. Critics are questioning his
closeness with the Mubaraks and his business ties.

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قالت صحيفة نيويورك تايمز الأمريكية الصادرة الاربعاء إن ثورة 25 يناير ادت إلى أفول نجم خبير الآثار المصرى الشهير زاهى حواس، جراء قربه من الرئيس المخلوع حسنى مبارك وزوجته سوزان.

الصحيفة أوضحت أن الثورة ألقت الضوء على الطرق التى ساعدت فى علو نجم حواس على مدار السنين، مشيرة إلى دور المنظمات والشركات الأجنبية التى كان يتعامل معها كمسئول حكومى.

وأضافت أن حواس، الذى يعد رمزا عالميا للآثار المصرية ونجح فى دعم السياحة المصرية، يتلقى على «سبيل المثال» مكافأة سنوية من قناة «ناشيونال جيوجرافيك» الأمريكية نحو 200 ألف دولار كـ«مستكشف مقيم»، حيث يتحكم فى دخول المواقع الأثرية التى تتضمنها تقارير القناة. وتنفى هذه القناة أنها تلقت أى معاملة تفضيلية فى دخول هذه المواقع.

وتحدثت الصحيفة عن علاقات حواس مع شركتين أمريكيتين لديهما أعمال تجارية فى مصر رغم قوله إنه لم يتربح من ذلك، مضيفة أن إحداهما هى «أرتس أند اكسيهبشن إنترناشيونال»، التى حصلت على تصريح من حواس لسنوات عدة لتنظيم جولات عالمية لعدد من أقيم الكنوز المصرية، مثل كنوز الملك توت عنخ أمون.

أما الشركة الأخيرة، فهى «أكسيهبت مارشاندايزنج»، والتى تبيع لعدة أعوام نسخا من قبعة حواس الشهيرة، مضيفة أنه فى العام الماضى تم التعاقد مع الشركة لإدارة متجر جديد فى المتحف المصرى بالقاهرة.

ونقلت نيويورك تايمز عن حواس قوله إن حصته فى الأرباح تذهب لمستشفى سرطان الأطفال ومتحف الأطفال اللذين كانا تحت رعاية زوجة الرئيس المخلوع. وفى رسالة إلى الصحيفة عبر البريد الإلكترونى، شدد على أنه لم يرتكب أى مخالفة للقانون، مضيفا أن «القانون المصرى يسمح لموظفى الحكومة بقبول مكافآت وأتعاب من خلال العقود الخارجية».

واعتبرت الصحيفة أن الاتهامات بحق حواس أقل بكثير من تلك التى تطول مسئولين حكوميين سابقين. ونقلت عن رئيسة تحرير «ميدل إيست جورنال» الباحثة الامريكية ميشيل دن» قولها: «أعتقد أنه يتوجب على حواس أن يدرك أن هناك طريقة جديدة لممارسة الأعمال التجارية». وقد أعلن حواس قبل أيام أنه «سيستقيل من عمله مع ناشيونال جيوجرافيك كى يتفرغ للآثار

Revolution Dims Star Power of Egypt’s Antiquities Chief

Until recently Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities minister, was a global symbol of
Egyptian national pride. A famous archaeologist in an Indiana Jones hat, he was
virtually unassailable in the old Egypt, protected by his success in boosting tourism,
his efforts to reclaim lost artifacts and his closeness to the country’s first lady, Suzanne
Mubarak
But the revolution changed all that.
Now demonstrators in Cairo are calling for his resignation as the interim government
faces disaffected crowds in Tahrir Square.
Their primary complaint is his association with the Mubaraks, whom he defended in
the early days of the revolution. But the upheaval has also drawn attention to the ways
he has increased his profile over the years, often with the help of organizations and
companies with which he has done business as a government official.
He receives, for example, an honorarium each year of as much as $200,000 from
National Geographic to be an explorer-in-residence even as he controls access to the
ancient sites it often features in its reports.
He has relationships — albeit ones he says he does not profit from — with two
American companies that do business in Egypt.
One, Arts and Exhibitions International, secured Mr. Hawass’s permission several
years ago to take some of the country’s most precious treasures, the artifacts of King
Tut, on a world tour; its top executives recently started a separate venture to market a
Zahi Hawass line of clothing.
A second company, Exhibit Merchandising, has been selling replicas of Mr. Hawass’s
hat for several years. Last year that company was hired to operate a new store in the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Mr. Hawass says his share of the profits from those products goes directly to Egyptian
charities. But the fact that both charities, a children’s cancer hospital and a children’s
museum, were overseen by Ms. Mubarak before the revolution has angered some
critics.
“We don’t know how Egyptians lived all this time under this government or under these
people,” said Entessar Gharieb, a radio announcer with a degree in archaeology who
helped organize a recent protest calling for Mr. Hawass’s removal. “Zahi Hawass was
one of this system, the system of Hosni Mubarak.”
Remarkably, given his Mubarak ties, Mr. Hawass has been able to hold on to his
government post through the aftershocks of the revolution, though he resigned briefly in
March and was reinstated. He travels a lot, serving as a cultural ambassador, praising
the revolution and urging foreigners to visit Egypt. This month Peru honored him for his
help in securing the return of artifacts that had been taken from Machu Picchu nearly a
century ago.
“You can feel the energy in the air when he speaks to people about Egypt,” said John
Norman, the president of Arts and Exhibitions International, which runs the Tut tour.
Nonetheless, Mr. Hawass remains dogged at home by unflattering reports in
newspapers and on television. The gift shop at the Egyptian Museum had to be closed
after a dispute over how the contract was awarded threatened to land him in jail. And
critics have gone to Egyptian prosecutors with complaints about Mr. Hawass’s
relationship with National Geographic and other matters.
“I have never done anything at all contrary to Egyptian law,” Mr. Hawass said in an e-
mail response to questions. “Egyptian law permits government employees to accept
honoraria and fees through outside contracts.”
The accusations against Mr. Hawass are much less serious than those made against
other former government officials, but they show how quickly the landscape has tilted.
“I think he’s going to have to realize that there is a new way of doing business, or at
least there may be,” said Michael C. Dunn, the editor of The Middle East Journal, a
scholarly publication.
National Geographic first brought Mr. Hawass on as an explorer-in-residence, one of
16 it has around the world, in 2001 when he was director of the Giza pyramids. He has
appeared in numerous National Geographic films about ancient Egypt, and the
organization publishes some of his books and arranges his speaking engagements,
for which he asks $15,000.
It is not clear how the National Geographic payments compare in size to Mr. Hawass’s
government salary, which he would not disclose. National Geographic says it pays Mr.
Hawass to advise it on major discoveries and help shape its policies on antiquities
issues. It says it has never received preferential access to archaeological sites or
discoveries.
Mr. Hawass said his impartiality was evident when the Discovery Channel won out
over National Geographic in a bid to make films about DNA research on royal
mummies.
“All proposals about films go before a committee,” he said in an e-mail, “and
decisions are made to maximize both the scientific results and the profit for Egypt.”
But Mr. Hawass also said this week that he has decided to resign temporarily as a
National Geographic explorer so that he can focus on protecting antiquities