Sarie Eldin: OCI Talks Over Tax Dues Still At Square One

Dr. Hani Sarie Eldin – the legal counsel for Orascom Construction Industries, asserted that the negotiations between Egypt’s Tax Authority and OCI (OCIC.CA) over the tax dues are still at square one as they had not yet come up with any effective solutions for dealing with the existing dispute.

Sarie Eldin said no further meetings have been scheduled to take place between the Tax Authority and OCI to resume the talks over the tax dues. The previous meetings could not manage to reach any solutions for the existing dispute.

Last October, Tax Authority stated that it had called the Egyptian tycoon Onsi Sawiris alongside his son Nassif Sawiris to start interrogations regarding OCI’s evading to pay EGP 14 billion tax dues to the state.

The selling deal of OCI’s Orascom Building Materials Holding to French Lafarge in 2008 has been reviewed referring that the deal has violated the law leading to tax fraud.
OCI sold in 2007 its entire stake in Orascom Building Materials Holding (OBMH) to French Lafarge at $ 12.9 billion.
The tax sources added that OCI had founded Orascom Building and had listed it in the EGX for a short while, transferring to it the Lafarge deal valued at EGP 71 billion.
Consequently, OCI explained that the capital gains from selling its entire stakes in the EGX-listed Orascom Building Materials Holding to Lafarge are tax exempt.