Algeria’s central bank has blocked Orascom Telecom, a Cairo-based telco, from repatriating an undisclosed sum of money from its local subsdidiary Orascom Telecom Algérie.
A source at the Banque d’Algérie told Reuters on 20 April that bank officials had…
Algeria’s central bank has blocked Orascom Telecom, a Cairo-based telco, from repatriating an undisclosed sum of money from its local subsdidiary Orascom Telecom Algérie.
A source at the Banque d’Algérie told Reuters on 20 April that bank officials had prevented Orascom from transfering the profits of its subsidiary, which trades under the name Djezzy, back to company headquarters in Egypt.
The source said the bank would issue a formal statement, although at the time of going to press it had yet to do so.
On 16 November last year, the Algerian tax office claimed that Djezzy owed it US$600m in back taxes for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 because the telco had underreported its revenues.
Orascom has contested the decision of the Direction des Grandes Entreprises through the office’s appeal procedures and subsequently through the Algerian court system. At each stage, however, Orascom has lost. In the process, it has paid US$333m of the US$600m tax bill so that it could move through the appeals process.
Orascom Telecom in Cairo declined to comment.