The draft law to grant businessmen criminal pardons would restore confidence in the Egyptian economy and promote foreign investments, said Osama Saleh, Chairman of the General Investment Authority.
"There is a state of fear among investors because of prison sentences imposed on a number of them during the last period," Saleh said in a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm, adding that investment transactions should not be governed by criminal penalties or restriction of freedoms, especially as many countries around the world only impose financial penalties in such cases, except in rare instances where intention of corruption or bribery of officials is proven.
"It is incredible to jail an investor because he benefited from the former regime allowing him to buy a commodity for less than its value," he said, stressing that in such cases the penalty must be harsher for the officials who breached their duties.
He refused to acknowledge a link between the timing of the draft law and a court's decision to imprison UAE businessman Hussain Sajwani, founder, owner and chairman of the DAMAC Group, in a case concerning land in Gamsha.
There are fears that such a provision would negatively impact economic relations between Egypt and UAE as well as other Arab countries. Saleh said that Egypt depends on Arab investments to overcome the current economic crisis, adding that Arab investors have been invited to Egypt. A Kuwaiti delegation has already visited while a Qatari and Saudi delegation is expected to visit by end of this month.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
