Egypt Suspends UAE DAMAC Official’s Jail Term After Settling Legal Disputes

Egypt’s prosecutor-general on Monday ordered the suspension of a five-year prison sentence handed down to prominent Emirati businessman Hussein Sejwani, owner of Dubai-based developer DAMAC, Al-Ahram’s Arabic-language news website reported on Sunday. 

Citing Mustafa El-Husseini, head of Egypt’s Public Funds Prosecution, Al-Ahram added that Sejwani had settled three disputes with the Egyptian government – two involving housing projects near Cairo and a third involving land on the Red Sea – by paying EGP 42 billion (roughly $6 billion). 

In return, Sejwani has vowed to drop an international arbitration case he filed against Egypt in 2011 following his conviction in a corruption case regarding the 2006 purchase of land near Gamsha Bay on the Red Sea. 

In a related development, a judicial source, preferring anonymity, told Ahram Online on Monday that the government’s reconciliation plan with fugitive Egyptian tycoon Hussein Salem and former trade minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid is expected to be finalised within two weeks. 

In May, El-Husseini had said that the deal would either involve Salem’s surrendering his assets inside Egypt to the government or by selling them off and providing a cash payout. 

State daily Al-Ahram reported in the same month that Salem could pay the government as much as EGP 7 billion (roughly $1 billion), in which case outstanding charges against him would be dropped.