Orascom CEO Sawaris shifts to humanitarian work and forsakes all executive duties
Orascom's CEO Naguib Sawiris said Saturday that he had decided to relinquish all executive roles at his manifold businesses and henceforth rivet his time and attention on humanitarian work at national, regional and international level.
- This new-fangled working approach by Sawaris was adopted after a $6 billion deal was reached last week with Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom Ltd for the sale of Djezzy.
- According to news reports, Sawiris told Cairo’s Al-Mehwar television: “The last two to three years were full of recurrent problems and crises, which made me lose my appetite for work.”
- “It’s time to break new ground and alter my line of work, away from the hubbub of the frenzied business arena”, he asserted.
- The Egyptian mogul said the main reason behind his decision is a dispute with the Algerian government over the local unit of his Orascom Telecom Holding company, Djezzy.
- Orascom’s investment in Algeria, which accounts for almost 50 percent of the group’s revenues, is now at the crux of the row with the Algerian authorities over hundreds of millions of dollars in back-tax claims regarding the Djezzy mobile telephony unit.
- Observers note that the current showdown between Orascom Telecom and the Algerian government over the entire “cleansing” of the financial liabilities on Djezzy is still far from over barring an early and mutually-acceptable agreement in the next few weeks.
- But this contingency is still anybody’s guess for the time being.
- Algeria’s central bank has decided to demand $193 million in compensation from Orascom Telecom’s local unit Djezzy because it violated foreign exchange rules, an Algerian telecoms official source said.
- The fate of Djezzy is seen as a potential hurdle to Orascom owner Naguib Sawiris closing a $6.6 billion deal announced last week to sell his telecoms assets to Russia’s Vimpelcom (VIP.N).
- “The Bank of Algeria is to demand $193 million from Djezzy because it violated Algeria’s foreign exchange rules,” the source said.
- The source said that Djezzy will also have to pay a fine in addition to the $193 million, which is considered to be the loss suffered by the central bank as a result of the alleged breach of foreign exchange rules.
- “The Bank of Algeria will also take legal action against Djezzy,” the source 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.