Starting on 2 September 2019,[1] Mohamed Ali (also: Aly[2]), an Egyptian construction contractor living in exile in Spain, claimed on online social networks that he had worked in the construction industry for 15 years under army contracts, building five villas for colleagues of Sisi and a palace for Sisi in a military camp. Ali accused Sisi of wasting public funds and "[taking] low-level corruption to a new level".[3] Ali's videos outline specific incidents and directly accuse well-known military individuals, including Major-Generals Kamel al-Wazir and Essam al-Kholy.[4] Egyptian authorities ran a media campaign attacking Ali. According to Said and Mamdouh writing in Mada Masr, the governmental campaign "did not refute the substance of [Ali's] claims."[12]