CAIRO The U.S. government has sparked an "espionage scandal" by eavesdropping on EgyptAir officials investigating an airplane catastrophe, the Egyptian daily *** Al-Wafd *** said in reaction to a U.S. magazine report.

*** Newsweek *** reported Sunday that U.S. intelligence intercepts "reveal that despite their public stance, the Egyptian investigators privately agreed with their U.S. counterparts that suicide was the likely cause" of the 1999 crash.

EgyptAir's Managing Director Mohamed Fahim Rayyan has rejected the theory of a suicide by the plane's copilot, Gamil al-Battuti, AFP said.

*** Al-Wafd***, a daily of the liberal opposition party of the same name, ran with the front-page headline: "American Espionage Scandal Against Egypt."

The United states is "a state founded on monitoring and espionage" which is "not ashamed to spy on itself as shown by the Watergate scandal, when the president (Richard Nixon) spied on his adversaries," it charged.

"Will Egypt keep quiet on this flagrant violation and what justification will Washington give Cairo about this crime?" asked *** Al-Wafd, *** which concluded the authorities here will opt for "silence."

*** Newsweek*** reported that U.S. intelligence obtained its information about what EgyptAir considers to be the cause of the crash by secretly monitoring communications between Cairo and an Egyptian investigation team in Washington.

The National Transportation Safety Board is to release its final report on the crash, which concludes that Battuti caused the Boeing to dive into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from New York on October 13, 1999, killing all on board, *** Newsweek*** said.

***Newsweek*** also cited U.S. officials as saying Egyptian authorities blocked efforts by U.S. investigators to look into Battuti's life style.

Egyptian authorities have demanded the report be based on facts alone. At the time of the crash, world experts and Egyptian newspapers said that the plane was downed by the United States. A German pilot even said had seen the missile hitting the plane.

The Egyptian government and state-run newspapers have made no comment on the *** Newsweek *** story.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Airline and Pilots' Union rejected Monday the ***** Newsweek ***** report that Egyptian investigators have reached an agreement with the U.S. over the the cause of the October 1999 EgyptAir crash in which 217 people died.

"It is inconceivable that a member of the Egyptian Investigation Commission would admit to the allegation of suicide by Al-Battuti," the EgyptAir official said.

The accusation, first leaked by U.S. officials in late 1999, has long enraged the Egyptian public.

"If we were convinced, even slightly, of the U.S. point of view concerning the accident's cause ... the investigation would have already been completed without consuming so much time and effort on the part of the Egyptian team for uncovering the truth," the official said.