Ragab el-Swerkie, 56, who owns a chain of clothes stores and is described by his employees as a devout Muslim, preyed mainly on beautiful young females, say prosecutors. The women's families - often in dire economic need - are said to have agreed to let their daughters marry him after he charmed them with offers of easy money and a luxurious home.

Egyptian law allows a man to have up to four wives, but he must inform his other wives if he plans to take a new bride and they must give their consent. Otherwise, they can ask for a divorce, which will usually be granted. Some of el-Swerkie's wives describe a miserable, harem-like existence imprisoned in one of el-Swerkie's lavish dwellings surrounded by private guards.

The tycoon's method of obtaining a new bride is said to have followed a pattern. He first obtained "intelligence" on a prospective wife before sending to her home a respectable-looking older woman as his "matchmaker" to schedule an appointment at his office in central Cairo.

One of his brides, Fatma Ibrahim, 18, recalled the first time she was taken to visit him. "As soon as we entered his flat, I was told to start walking back and forth," she said. "I didn't know why, but I obeyed. Later, I knew that he had been watching me from behind a curtain. Then he appeared and asked me to uncover a small portion of my legs."

On the next encounter, he asked her to consult a doctor to confirm her virginity. She said: "El-Swerkie slept with me only three times in 13 days and then he divorced me." The young woman said she was given about £7,000 in "severance pay" and driven back to her family in a limousine.

Another wife said the tycoon insisted that she ask permission before being allowed to go anywhere, and that he used hidden cameras to keep tabs on his wives. She said: "He kept telling me that beauty is only skin deep and that every woman has a particular magic. His lines got old quick."

His trial, expected in the next few weeks, is taking on a political complexion as the government seeks to use it in its conflict with Islamic fundamentalists. El-Swerkie is known as a generous financier of fundamentalist organisations. These groups, led by the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have gained popularity among many voters by campaigning against material they regard as sexually offensive on television and in literature.

Hisham Kassem, the editor and publisher of the weekly Cairo Times, said: "The government wants to show how this allegedly 'pious Muslim' is a national shame. This man was basically a sex maniac who managed to justify his own behaviour by convincing himself that he was free to take advantage of any woman who became his wife."

However, a spokesman for the tycoon said his boss was being made a scapegoat in a political struggle. Standing amid crates and workers unloading boxes of women's clothing, Mohammed Osman said: "He may have had a lot of wives, but he has never kept more than three at any one time."

Some men who know the tycoon say he always provided well for his wives. News coverage of el-Swerkie's case has been marked by a tone of comic amusement and headlines such as, "What a stallion!" and "Don Juan or Rasputin?"

Many women - especially the ones involved with the tycoon - take another view. The stories told by wives and former wives paint a picture of a man who took advantage of his position as a "sugar daddy" in a society where females still struggle for basic rights.

So far, the authorities have been able to uncover marriage certificates for only 20 wives, but they say this is because their suspect burned much of his marital paper trail. One senior official in Cairo believes that the tycoon married at least 90 women.

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20 May 2001: Wives and children weep as Mormon is convicted of bigamy
25 April 2001: Lawyer calls for divorce over 'insult to Islam'