Egyptian billionaire and the CEO of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) Nassef Sawiris, has been sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment on charges of tax evasion, Ahram Online reported. In March 2013, Egypt's Tax Authority accused OCI of tax evasion. The company reached an agreement with the government to pay back the Tax Authority in ten installments from 2013 till 2017. A year later, however, OCI announced that the Egyptian Prosecutor General acquitted OCI of the tax evasion charges. The Egyptian Tax Authority denied dropping the charges. This comes a day after Samih Sawiris, Nassef Sawiris's brother, told Reuters that he does not plan to invest in Egypt "until there are changes to the legal system to support and protect investors." The Sawiris family stated its intention to inject large investments to the Egyptian economy shortly after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. The total value of the Sawiris family is $13.2bn, according to Forbes magazine. Earlier in June, Sameh Sawiris's older sibling Naguib Sawiris offered to purchase 20% of the shares in EFG Hermes at EGP 16 per share. The Sawiris-Beltone alliance is offering around $257m for an EFG stake. The evaluation conducted by HC securities, however, valued the fair share price at EGP 22.93, about 30% higher than the price offered by the Sawiris-Beltone alliance. Shortly after Naguib Sawiris's EFG Hermes offer, Nassef Sawiris announced that he would invest EGP 500m in a new investment fund. This investment fund is a strategic alliance between CI Capital Holding and Duet Group.
