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France Telecom/Agility mysterious joint
venture in Korek
5.4.2012
By Mrs. Benaw Izzat
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ekurd.net |
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April 5, 2012
ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',
— As you know the Kurdish investment law is very
friendly, its article 3 mentions that Foreign
Investors and Foreign Capitals shall be treated the
same way as national Investors and national
Capitals. Article 5 mentions that the investment
will be tax free for the next ten years and finally
art 7 stipulates that A foreign Investor shall be
entitled to transfer the profits and interests of
his capital abroad.
Despite this friendly law none of the players in
Korek chose a direct investment in the company. Let
us see how it works in details.
In Dubai you will find a company called “Iraq
telecom Limited” incorporated on February 8th 2011
just before the deal announcement. This is our
famous joint venture which name does not deserve to
be mentioned in France Telecom accounting report.
Deepak Jayantilal Jain; Ihab Fekry Aziz Bassilios,
Olivier Froissard and Marc François Rennard are the
Directors of this company. They are also Director in
Korek excepted Olivier Froissard. You can see check
in parallel on the two web sites:
http://www.difc.ae/iraq-telecom-limited
and
http://www.korektel.com/board.php
Now you can also notice that Iraq telecom
shareholders are Alcazar Capital which is known as
the private equity investment arm of Agility which
makes sense. But then France Telecom chose to build
up another stage the co –shareholder of Iraq telecom
besides Alcazar being “ Atlas Services Netherlands
BV”.
On page 541 of FT accounts you can read that Atlas
Services Netherlands BV bought 99,99% of the shares
a Swedish company “Orange Sverige” for 1,486 MEUR
which belonging to France Telecom. Just note that at
the end of the page 478,www.ekurd.net
you can see that Atlas Services Netherlands belongs
as well at 100% to France Telecom and it is
classified in the “Spanish sector”. It all makes
sense!
So would you consider that Korek went into the
Spanish sector? Of course not, idiot! Korek is on
page 483 “Rest of the world” for 20,24%.
If you are lost just go on page 428 then you will
find Korek , telecom operator in Iraq (at least we
are good with geography!) under significant
influence of “Agility 24% and CS SPV 56%”.
Who is this main partner CS SPV is not mentioned, it
should be the new acronym for Kurdish citizens
according to the accusation made by Michael Rubin*,
but actually it is looking more like Sirwan Mustafa
front company, not even the KDP. Why do we need a
three stages investment structure to invest in the
smallest telecom operator in the KRG? Did they fear
to end up totally frustrated from their basic
shareholder rights like Andreas Koutroukides(
Ariafon founder)?
Why Iraq telecom is mentioned nowhere in France
telecom document? Because life is boring without a
part of mystery or because mystery is the perfect
blanket that covers transparency.
*Michael Rubin repeatedly denounced the misuse of
Kurdish public funds, France Telecom could not
ignore the facts and the judiciary consequences for
them:
March 5th 2010
For Korek to win its license, it spent something
less than one billion dollar, actually 600 Million
that money came out of KRG’s budget for the private
use of Massoud Barzani’s nephew, not Nechirvan
Barzani but a different one. And this is absolutely
wrong. Nowadays Korek is still a poor company
because it is a family company, it is not a
professional company
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/3/state3600.htm
May 21st 2010
This was highlighted when the head of the Korek
phone company, a Barzani relative, was able to
expropriate $600 million from the public coffer to
support his private bid.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/199617/debating-kurdistan/michael-rubin
July 3rd 2011
The Korek cell phone company is the prime example.
Its leaders apparently used several hundred million
dollars in KRG money to purchase the national
license. In effect, they used the Kurdish citizens’
own funds for personal gain.
http:// /2011/wheres-kurdistans-missing-billion/
March 28th 2011
After the famous deal with France Telecom was
revealed, Sirwan Mustafa had to provide explanation
to the Kurdish Parliament; nothing was ever
mentioned by France Telecom.
« Korek Telecom’s managing director – a nephew of
Kurdistan President and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
leader Massoud Barzani – denies allegations that his
company belongs to the KDP and has revealed that he
is one of the company’s four shareholders.”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/business/3520.html
By Mrs. Benaw Izzat - ekurd.net
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© 2012 ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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