“Djezzy has been put on the dock on trumped-up charges by tax officials”, Sawiris says
Orascom Telecom former CEO Naguib Sawaris has declared that the Algerian authorities have exerted over the past few months unbearable pressure on his successful local telephone operator unit Djezzy for murky reasons, as he put it.
- He said that some unnamed quarters were intent on undermining Djezzy because of its huge success on the Algerian mobile telephony market over the past few years despite an unbridled competition.
- In a statement on Monday to an Egyptian satellite TV channel, Naguib Sawiris also discounted the pending issue of overdue taxes reportedly owed by his company to the Algerian government stressing that such taxes were non-existent for Djezzy until the year 2013 in line with the tax legislation in force.
- On the sale of Djezzy, he asserted that he would not barter this unit at any price adding that he would see to it that the final deal on the acquisition of Djezzy by another world telephony operator would live up to the full expectations of Orascom Telecom.
- Meanwhile, Orascom Telecom has not received any official notification from Algeria that it it’s local unit Djezzy should pay Algeria’s central bank $193 million, the company said in a statement.
- An Algerian official told the press last week that the central bank had decided to demand $193 million in compensation from Djezzy for violationg foreign exchange rules.
- The fate of the unit, at the heart of a long-running row between Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and the Algerian authorities, is seen as a potential hurdle for OT to close a $6.6 billion merger deal with Russia’s Vimpelcom that could create the world’s fifth-biggest mobile phone operator.
- Orascom also said any fine would still be subject to investigation and would need to be approved by an international court, if need be.
- “Orascom Telecom has not received any official notification thus far regarding the mentioned fine and any such fine is subject to investigation and a court process which will determine whether a fine is applicable or not,” the firm said.
- Orascom Telecom said a week ago that Djezzy’s chief executive had been called in by police for questioning over allegations that the firm violated Algerian foreign exchange rules.
- Djezzy is Orascom’s main revenue earner but has been prevented from transferring its profits out of the country since a bitter back-tax dispute with authorities broke out last year.