The Egyptian regime has set up secret tunnels under the Suez Canal that may be used to transport water to a foreign party, Egyptian businessman and actor Mohamed Ali said.

In an interview with Middle East Eye, Ali confirmed that engineers - who worked on the tunnel construction - told him about the multi-billion-dollar project.

He pointed out that the purpose of the tunnels apparently to give water to a foreign party, at a time when people face the risk of water scarcity because of the project of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile.

Ali, who had worked as an army and government contractor for many years and then fled to Spain and began to open corruption files, questioned Sinai as the destination of water being pumped through those projects.

He also called on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to answer the people, and disclose the other party to which water goes through what he called underground tunnels.

Egypt faces the threat of thirst because of the Renaissance Dam, which the government says is blocking a large part of the country's share of the Nile water, prompting Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly to declare that Egypt has entered the stage of water poverty, coinciding with the announcement of negotiations with the Addis Ababa government deadlocked.

Peace Canal
In the meantime, the North Sinai Governorate announced the arrival of the water canal of peace associated with the River Nile to the main station in the city of Bir al-Abed for the first time.

The governorate said in a statement that the state has completed the implementation of the canal channels of peace under the Suez Canal to deliver the Nile water to Sinai at a financial cost of 221 million pounds (13.6 million dollars), in addition to the completion of the construction of Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah canal 8605 km at a financial cost of 560 million pounds ($ 34.4 million).

The fugitive businessman has caused a scandal and anger in Egypt since he began producing videos in early September accusing Sisi and other senior officials of corruption.

In light of the economic downturn and austerity measures being implemented by the government, the contractor's leaks of luxury palaces constructed by Sisi with public funds were widely outraged.

Demonstrations took place on 20 and 27 September, the most important challenge to Sisi 's rule in years.

The authorities met with a fresh crackdown on the opposition and arrested at least 3,000 people, including well-known activists, journalists and lawyers.