The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has no relation with the arrest of Ayoub Adly Ayoub, chairman of Remco for Touristic Villages Construction, who was prevented from traveling to London today morning, sources affirmed. NBE has not taken any legal procedures against Ayoub when he delayed the payment of the debt that he had pledged to pay on behalf of Rami Lakah, sources added. The bank approved Ayoub's request to postpone paying the fourth installment worth EGP 12 million last April due to the recession that hit real estate and tourism sectors, sources told Amwal Al Ghad. NBE, Al Baraka Bank of Egypt and Arab African International Bank (AAIB) rejected Ayoub's offer to settle the bad debts of Lakah, chairman of Holding Company for Financial Investment (Lakah Group), on a lump sum in return for real estate assets. The real estate and tourism sector have been hardly hit since 2011's revolution; therefore, banks decline to settle bad debts in exchange for real estate and tourism sectors as they face difficulties in liquidating these assets. Ayoub presented a debt settlement scheme offering NBE some units at Stella Heliopolis and Stella Heights North Coast in exchange for writing-off Lakah's debt which is EGP 230 million. NBE signed three years ago an agreement on behalf of AAIB and Al Baraka Bank of Egypt to settle the bad debt of Lakah which is worth EGP 260 million; of which US$ 9 million are paid and EGP 50.4 million payable in annual installments.
