It's World Cup time again. And for the second year in a row Orascom Telecom's chairman Naguib Sawiris is in big economic trouble. Last week Naguib Sawiris issued an Orascom statement indicating that Algeria's government was ready to begin discussions concerning a possible sale of Orascom's Algerian unit, Djezzy, to MTN.
As a result of Naguib Sawiris' annoucement, Orascom's stocks jumped 3.1 percent.
Too bad Naguib Sawiris was lying and yet again manipulating stock prices, because Naguib Sawiris then issued a separate statement announcing that talks between Weather Investments (Naguib Sawiris now controls Orascom through Weather) and MTN over the sale of Djezzy failed. As The Wall Street Journal pointed out, now Naguib Sawiris needs to sell some of the company's assets to raise cash and settle problems with the Algerian government.
This is how the problems unfolded:
In May 2008 and again in July 2009, Orascom Telecom Algeria was informed that it was the subject of a tax audit in Algeria concerning the years 2005 to 2007. In June 2008 the audit commenced. The Algerian regulatory authorities sought a USD 596.6 tax adjustment claim for back taxes concerning the years 2005 to 2007. Yet Naguib Sawiris didn't release this information until the day of a World Cup qualifying match between Algeria and Egypt. Not surprisingly violence broke out.
Again, this is Naguib Sawiris' way of keeping secrets that also maintain the share price of Orascom. Not only did Naguib Sawiris hide the gigantic tax claim from his own shareholders, thereby breaching the law by manipulating the price of the company's stocks, but by releasing the information on the same day as the heated World Cup game of Egypt v. Algeria, he used the sporting battle to make it look like Algeria was waging a political and economic attack against Egypt, as a French-language article in El Watan pointed out.
Secrecy, lies, stock manipulation, and football. What will Naguib Sawiris do this season to celebrate the World Cup?
lundi 28 juin 2010
lundi 7 juin 2010
Naguib Sawiris: a moral pygmy attacking free press
Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris has an impressive track record of censorship, as pointed out by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies” Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
This quote from highly-respected (and Holocaust survivor) Tom Lantos applied to Yahoo, accused of sharing personal information with the Chinese government to help them put dissidents to jail. But Egypt has its own kind of “moral pygmy”: Naguib Sawiris.
If you're wondering why you've never come across any negative news about Egypt telecom magnate Naguib Sawiris, that's because journalists who attempt to expose his corrupt business deals end up with prison sentences.
Of course it's no secret that Naguib Sawiris uses his telecom services in Egypt (Orascom owned Mobinil) to give personal information about its users to the government and is also involved in accepting gracious government bribes. But if Naguib Sawiris has anything to do with it, you won't hear a word about that.
Naguib Sawiris is extremely well-liked by the Egyptian press--if you can call journalists who aren't allowed to tell the truth "the press." He portrays himself as a liberal good guy, which you'd think means he values free speech and objective reporting. Yet what happens when free speech includes exposing information about how Naguib Sawiris maneuvers his million-dollar deals? Let's take a look.
In March 2002, a Cairo court sentenced Adel Hammouda and Essam Fahmy of the independent weekly Sawt al-Umma to six months in prison each for defaming Naguib Sawiris, as the Committee to Protect Journalist points out. Just what did Hammouda, a reporter, and Fahmy, the paper's publisher, do to receive this sentence? They wrote articles accusing Naguib Sawiris and his telecommunications company, Orascom Telecom, of financial misconduct. The journalists charged that the Sawiris family, with the help of Bank Misr, used false bank certificates to raise Orascom's capital by 400 million Egyptian pounds (about USD 90 million at the time). According PEN World Association of Writers, each was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 500 Egyptian pounds. The conviction was overturned on appeal, but Naguib Sawiris and his family filed a total of 30 lawsuits against the paper.
Like Russia and China, Egypt has a nasty censorship track record for shutting down journalists and bloggers who critique government-backed puppets like Naguib Sawiris. Journalists who dare to criticize President Hosni Mubarak (whose family--surprise surprise--has close ties with Naguib Sawiris) and other members of the Egyptian ruling elite are silenced, fined, and buried beneath a heap of lawsuits, despite the fact that Egypt is full of journalists who are well equipped to expose lawless businessmen like Naguib Sawiris.
As CPJ's executive director Ann Cooper put it: "Imposing prison sentences on journalists for covering stories of clear public interest is outrageous." The cases against Hammouda and Fahmy should be dropped immediately."
“While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies” Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
This quote from highly-respected (and Holocaust survivor) Tom Lantos applied to Yahoo, accused of sharing personal information with the Chinese government to help them put dissidents to jail. But Egypt has its own kind of “moral pygmy”: Naguib Sawiris.
If you're wondering why you've never come across any negative news about Egypt telecom magnate Naguib Sawiris, that's because journalists who attempt to expose his corrupt business deals end up with prison sentences.
Of course it's no secret that Naguib Sawiris uses his telecom services in Egypt (Orascom owned Mobinil) to give personal information about its users to the government and is also involved in accepting gracious government bribes. But if Naguib Sawiris has anything to do with it, you won't hear a word about that.
Naguib Sawiris is extremely well-liked by the Egyptian press--if you can call journalists who aren't allowed to tell the truth "the press." He portrays himself as a liberal good guy, which you'd think means he values free speech and objective reporting. Yet what happens when free speech includes exposing information about how Naguib Sawiris maneuvers his million-dollar deals? Let's take a look.
In March 2002, a Cairo court sentenced Adel Hammouda and Essam Fahmy of the independent weekly Sawt al-Umma to six months in prison each for defaming Naguib Sawiris, as the Committee to Protect Journalist points out. Just what did Hammouda, a reporter, and Fahmy, the paper's publisher, do to receive this sentence? They wrote articles accusing Naguib Sawiris and his telecommunications company, Orascom Telecom, of financial misconduct. The journalists charged that the Sawiris family, with the help of Bank Misr, used false bank certificates to raise Orascom's capital by 400 million Egyptian pounds (about USD 90 million at the time). According PEN World Association of Writers, each was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 500 Egyptian pounds. The conviction was overturned on appeal, but Naguib Sawiris and his family filed a total of 30 lawsuits against the paper.
Like Russia and China, Egypt has a nasty censorship track record for shutting down journalists and bloggers who critique government-backed puppets like Naguib Sawiris. Journalists who dare to criticize President Hosni Mubarak (whose family--surprise surprise--has close ties with Naguib Sawiris) and other members of the Egyptian ruling elite are silenced, fined, and buried beneath a heap of lawsuits, despite the fact that Egypt is full of journalists who are well equipped to expose lawless businessmen like Naguib Sawiris.
As CPJ's executive director Ann Cooper put it: "Imposing prison sentences on journalists for covering stories of clear public interest is outrageous." The cases against Hammouda and Fahmy should be dropped immediately."
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