Ashraf Marwan

Ashraf Marwan (أشرف مروان‎, 2 February 1944 – 27 June 2007) was an Egyptian billionaire who worked as a spy for both the General Intelligence Directorate (Egypt) and the Israeli Mossad.

Egyptian officials claim he was a double agent who also worked for them.

Marwan was born in Egypt on 2 February 1944.

His grandfather was the chief of the Sharia courts in Egypt, and his father, a military officer, reached the rank of General in the Egyptian Republican Guard.

In 1965, at the age of 21, Marwan graduated from Cairo University with a degree in chemical engineering and was conscripted into the army.

That same year he met Mona Nasser, the president's second daughter, who was 17 at the time.

She fell in love with him, but her father suspected that Marwan's interest in his daughter stemmed more from her political status than her personal charms.

Nasser agreed to the marriage, which took place in July 1966, under her pressure.

Egypt had begun preparing a war with the aim of retaking the Sinai Peninsula, which it had lost to Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.

In 1968 Marwan started working in the Presidential Office under Sami Sharaf, Nasser's aide-de-camp and the strongman of the Egyptian security service, who kept an eye on him.

In late 1968, Marwan, Mona, and their new-born son, Gamal, left for London, allegedly for the continuation of Marwan's studies.

A few months later, Nasser, who was irritated by information concerning their lavish lifestyle, ordered the young couple to return to Egypt, where Marwan continued working under Sami Sharaf.

Marwan's service at the Presidential Office lasted eight years (1968–1976).

Although he only held a junior position under Nasser, the president occasionally used him for sensitive missions, such as calming the crisis that erupted after the resignation of General Saad El-Shazly from the army in response to his rival's nomination as chief of staff.

From 1969, Marwan worked at the Presidential Office, first under Gamal Abdel Nasser and then as a close aide to his successor, Anwar Sadat.

After Nasser's death in September 1970, Marwan became a close aide to Sadat, who needed him by his side in order to demonstrate that he had the support of Nasser's family.

Marwan's unparalleled access to his nation's best-kept secrets, especially after his promotion in May 1971, allowed him to provide Israel with information about the coming war, including the full Egyptian war plans, detailed accounts of military exercises, original documentation of Egypt's arms deals with the Soviet Union and other countries, the Egyptian military Order of Battle, the minutes from meetings of the high command, accounts of Sadat's private conversations with other Arab leaders and even the minutes of secret summit meetings in Moscow between Sadat and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

The information that Marwan provided made its way to the desks of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and Israeli Defense Force Chief of Staff Chaim Bar-Lev in raw form.

It shaped Israel's strategic and tactical approach to Egypt and provided a direct look at Egypt's war calculus, including Sadat's minimal requirements for launching a war: mainly long-range attack aircraft and Scud missiles, without which Egypt could not have overcome Israeli air superiority.

Before the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Marwan's skills caught the attention of Sadat, who nominated him to be in charge of foreign relations.

In his new capacity, Marwan developed excellent relations with the Saudi and the Libyan leaderships, who supplied Egypt with critical financial and military assistance.

He played a major role in persuading Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to impose an oil embargo against the United States, to retaliate for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military, and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.

The embargo triggered the 1973 oil crisis in the US, whose domestic oil output had already peaked by 1969, and was one of the causes of the 1973-1975 recession.

Sadat, who recognized Marwan's brilliance, recruited him to lead negotiations with Libya to obtain Mirage-5 aircraft, considered critical for the coming war against Israel.

Marwan managed the Libyan-Egyptian deal, which was followed by leveraging his status in Sadat's eyes and among Arab countries.

Marwan started to increasingly deal with international arms trade, which helped him to build his wealth.

In April 1973, Marwan persuaded the Mossad that Egypt planned to attack in mid-May.

Consequently, Israel raised its state-of-military readiness, but the war did not come.

In October, he persuaded the Mossad of another plan to attack by deliberately feeding them misleading information.

Eli Zeira, Director of Aman and Israel's military intelligence during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, said that the Israeli Agranat Commission, which investigated Israeli leaders for the reasons behind their failure in the war, said that Marwan, who was known by many nicknames, conveyed misleading information to Israel, under the direction of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, to earn their trust.

According to the Israeli Agranat Commission, "The Concept" states that "Egypt will only attack, if the war is carried out in partnership with Syria, with modern aircraft and other weapons that guarantee Egyptian superiority over the Israeli air force."

"How can such a senior Egyptian official come to the Israeli embassy in London in broad daylight, while he and his leaders know that this embassy, like other Israeli embassies abroad, is being monitored by dozens of intelligence agencies around the world?"

Zeira questioned.

In 1981, he bought heavy weapons from the US to supply an Arab country.

However, the weapons were intended for Palestinian militias in Lebanon.

Marwan's name surfaced in the Suisse secrets revelations, as he had been able to open a Credit Suisse bank account in 2000, even though he was a politically exposed person.

In 2002, it became known that Marwan had been recruited by Egyptian Intelligence and may have provided misleading information to the Israeli Mossad during the period leading up to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

He died under mysterious circumstances on 27 June 2007, falling from the balcony of his house in London.

His wife and relatives testified that prior to his death, he expressed concerns that he was being followed.

His wife accused the Mossad of the assassination.