07-05-09 Was The Perfect Spy A Double Agent?

(CBS)60 Minutes examines one of the most mysterious cases in the annals of modern espionage when correspondent Steve Kroft reports on the curious life and death of Ashraf Marwan,an Egyptian billionaire claimed by both Israelis and Egyptians to be their greatest spy.The story of Marwan,whose sudden death is being investigated as a murder,will be broadcast this Sunday,May 10,at 7 p.m. ET/PT.Marwan was once the son-in-law of the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and served as his liaison to the country's intelligence services.He made a fortune as an arms dealer and had been living in London for decades.In 2007,Marwan,62,fell five floors from his apartment balcony in a death initially labeled a suicide but now is being investigated as a murder.It could never have been anything but murder says his son, Gamal."I'm not sure what happened,but what I am sure of is that he was definitely killed, 100 percent," he tells Kroft.He said his father was lame and too weak to have gotten himself up in a position to clear his balcony rail. Witnesses claim to have seen two men with dark complexions on the balcony before the fall.Gamal says his father was an Egyptian patriot who was a double agent,providing misleading information to his country's enemy,Israel,on the eve of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.Who would have a motive to kill him? "You know,my father's main job was Egypt and the main concept was to fool the Israelis and win the war.God knows,[the Israelis] have the highest motives," says Gamal.No they don't,says Aharon Levran,one of Israel's top intelligence officers who had access to the information Marwan,code named "Angel," provided to Israel."It can't be.Why should we kill him? It’s only a good reason for the Egyptians to do it once they discovered that he wasn’t so good for them," he tells Kroft.Levran and other Israeli sources said Marwan provided them reams of information,including battle plans and secret transcripts in exchange for lots of money - sometimes as much as $100,000 per meeting."He was worth every penny," Levran says.Both sides claim to have benefited from the advance warning he provided Israel in the Yom Kippur War.Israel said the attack times given to them,which turned out to be late by four hours,still gave them just enough time to call up reserves and save the Jewish State from the Syrian surprise attack.The Egyptians claim that Marwan’s information on the timing of the attack,gave them just the time they needed to retake land that it lost in the war six years earlier."He gave us a number of hours before the Israelis started to mobilize….enough for us to cross the Suez Canal.That is the greatest achievement," said Dr. Abdel Monem Said,one of Egypt's top security experts