Algeria Mulls Officially Throw Over Djezzy Purchase: Sources

Close sources from the Algerian Finance Ministry revealed that the government is about to officially throw over the purchase of Orascom Telecom Algeria (OTA) “Djezzy” after two years of fierce dispute with Orascom Telecom Holding – OTH (ORTE.CA) owner Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, according to Algeria’s Al Sherouk newspaper.

The source attributed such a decision to a number of economic and political factors, including the global financial crisis.

The source added that, Algerian government is quite sure that it will lose the international arbitration this time before specialized US court as the international business legislations do not take into account the preemption decision which Algeria wanted to apply with retroactive effect in 2009.