Egyptian singer Midhat Saleh received an offer from Iraqi president Saddam Hussain to hold five performances in Iraq for 100 thousand US dollars. Midhat accepted the offer despite the critical situation in the country with the possibility of war being high.
According to the Egyptian based daily, Al Gomhuria, Midhat is one of many signers who has received an offer from the Iraqi president to hold concerts for extremely high wages as a mean of persuading the singers to come to Iraq in such crucial times. Midhat traveled to Iraq and neglected a contract he has with producers of the play “Tara’iou”, which he is taking part in and has a previous contract with, prompting them to file a lawsuit against him.
The singer did not show up for performance and had overlooked his prior agreement to act in the play, which he has a leading role in. the producers in turn had to reimburse the audience paying them back for their tickets. At this point the producers filed a complaint to the actors association for the negligence and irresponsibility of Midhat, demanding legal actions be taken against him for breaking the contract.
On a different note, Egyptian belly dancer Fifi Abdo also filed a lawsuit against Midhat for giving her checks without credit as a payback for money she had loaned him early last year. Fifi had filed the complaint in June 2002 after Midhat refused to pay her back the money by ignoring all her attempts to contact him.
Abdo had warned Midhat that she would take him to court if he did not return her money which totaled over one and a half million Egyptian pounds. Midhat had given the dancer three bad checks each for half a million Egyptian pound.
The court sentenced Midhat to three years of prison for counterfeiting, but he demanded a retrial of the case. Midhat told the court that he did not take the money from Abdo as a loan but instead it was an investment by her in his new recording studio. Midhat added that every investment has the possibility of loss or gain and that he should not be obliged to cover Fifi's losses. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
