Naguib Sawiris: The Bribe Man, Continued . . .

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is famous for more than building a global telecom empire. He's infamous, in fact, for his involvement with bribe and corruption everywhere from Israel to Italy.
Israeli newspaper Maariv claimed Naguib Sawiris paid bribes to Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and his wife Nili Priel to help him win approvals for Orascom Telecom Holding to increase its stake in Israeli operator Partners Communication. In Europe, the Italian financial police conducted an investigation of Naguib Sawiris over USD 135 million in consultancy fees that were suspected to be disguised kickbacks during the purchase of the majority stake in Wind Spa by a consortium led by Naguib Sawiris' Orascom Telecom Holding.
The subject of Naguib Sawiris' bribery was also raised in the London High Court case filed against him by his former Italian business partner. During the trial, lawyers pressed Naguib Sawiris about how he secured his lucrative telecom license in the Congo with Rami Antaki by purchasing 100 percent of Libertis Telecom (If you're not already familiar with the story of how Naguib Sawiris and Antaki paid off the Congolese President's daughter, click here. ) During the court case, Naguib Sawiris lied by claiming his friend Rami Antaki's company had already "been granted a telecoms license and completed all the groundwork associated with obtaining that license" before he was brought into the Congo deal. However, Naguib Sawiris' statement contradicted evidence provided by Jack Hazout, a telecom consultant who refused to go through with a separate deal with Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso at an earlier juncture due to the fact that the government's preconditions were that his daughter "Joujou" would receive a stake in the telecom company before a license was granted.
"From my own knowledge and from what Mr. Antaki has told me," Mr. Hazout said, "Mr. Sawiris' account is not correct . . . the letter from the Congolese government was not a license and, as far as I am aware, no license was granted until the government's preconditions had been met after Mr. Sawiris became involved."