By Lamia Nabil

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) reached a final settlement with the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA), to pay EGP 7.1bn.

OCI announced on Tuesday that Onsi and Nasef Sawirs had been removed from the travel ban list.

Onsi Sawiris is the head of the Sawiris family and founder of the Orascom group of companies. His son Nasef is CEO of OCI.

“OCI’s EGP 7.1bn settlement with ETA ends the tax dispute covering the years 2007 to 2010,” said an OCI statement on Tuesday.

The amount is the value of the company’s due tax payments according to the amended tax returns submitted to ETA.

“OCI emphasises that there were no intentions of tax evasion,” said the statement. “The conflict was related to the correct estimation of the amount of tax due.”

In March, ETA submitted a tax bill demanding the company pay EGP 4.7bn in relation to the sale of Orascom Building Materials Holding (OBMH) to France-based industrial group Lafarge in 2007.

OCI will pay EGP 2.5bn initially, then EGP 900m by the end of December, followed by successive payments every six months until December 2017.

The first installment will be paid through a loan by Dutch unit OCINV to OCI, with the amount deposited in the Central Bank of Egypt.