Our law firm is one of the oldest firms in Cairo, Egypt, having been established in 1986 under the name of Maher Milad Iskander & Co.
Since our inception, we have been recognized as one of the top law firms in key sectors such as civil, commercial and criminal litigation, national and international arbitration, in addition to being known players in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, structuring, financing and managing deals.
In 2018, we became a full member firm of Andersen Global and began offering comprehensive and varied legal and tax services to companies and individuals, in addition to financial advisory services, licensed by the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (License No. 47), through our team of 7 partners and more than 70 of the top lawyers and consultants in Egypt.
Resorting to courts is not our aim in every lawsuit. We first seek to control the dispute and resolve issues rapidly and through the most appropriate means.
However, when the matter requires resorting to litigation, we invoke our vast practical experience before courts of all instances, including the supreme Court.
Litigation and dispute resolution has been the bedrock of our firm’s legal practice since our founding. Our breadth and depth of experience is unparalleled, and we have become the first choice for investors and entrepreneurs. We have successfully handled thousands of cases for clients engaged in major business disputes related to anti-trust, corporate governance, insurance, taxation, commercial and construction contracts, franchises and dealerships, libel, patents and illegitimate competition, and banking litigation.
We are well-equipped to handle the most complex commercial matters since our years of experience have taught us what to expect and how to achieve results. We never lose sight of the needs of our clients, regardless of whether they are large corporations or smaller enterprises.
Services:
Read More: https://eg.andersen.com/litigation-arbitration/
Managing Partner
Managing Partner – Lawyer
Maher Iskander is the Founder and Managing Partner of the firm in Egypt and has over 35 years of practical experience in criminal, commercial and corporate law.
Maher is widely known and respected by both peers and clients alike as a strong general litigator, one who is capable of defending his clients before all levels of the Egyptian courts, including the Court of Cassation.
His experience in criminal law is varied, randing from bribery, embezzlement, forgery, information technology crimes, commercial fraud and illegitimate competition, antitrust, infringement of intellectual property rights, to professional malpractice and negligence, theft; slander/libel; assault, harassment and numerous other matters.
Maher also has seasoned expertise in shareholder disputes, disputes on public take-over bids and joint-venture disputes.
Maher’s years of experience have solidified his position as one of Egypt’s most aggressive litigators, and this has allowed him to gain innumerable successes for his clients.
Read More: https://eg.andersen.com/Team/mahermiladiskander/
Tax
orThe tax assessment is intended to determine the amount that the taxpayer is obligated to pay to the public treasury, whenever the occasions leading to tax debt owed by the taxpayer have occurred. The tax base of the taxpayer is determined and estimated according to the arbitrary discretionary method or the direct method by submitting a direct declaration from the taxpayer or submitting it through a third party.
The Unified Tax Procedures Law No. 206 of 2020, has regulated the procedures for submitting tax returns, the methods of notifying that shall be followed by the competent authority in case of tax amendment or assessment of the taxpayer takes place, and the duration of appealing a such assessment, including in particular what has been stated in Article (56) of the tax appeal stages and clarifying all aspects of the dispute in such appeal.
Moreover, the legislator provided that the tax assessment appeal shall only be taken into consideration when specifying all aspects of the dispute and the essential reasons for such appeal. However, in practice, taxpayers have submitted tax appeals on the tax assessment forms without specifying the aspects of dispute which led to the non-acceptance of the appeal, and therefore, the loss of the taxpayers’ rights.
Pursuant to that; on September 9th, 2022, the competent authority issued a periodic book regarding the procedures to be followed in the appeals submitted by the taxpayers; warning all the executive units to reject the appeals submitted by the taxpayers on the tax assessment forms except after reviewing the form validity as required by Article (56) of the aforementioned law; whereas the appeal shall be submitted to the competent commission, within the legal deadline, including all aspects of the dispute, and the appeal shall be submitted from one original document and three copies thereof. In the event of deficiencies in form, the taxpayers or their agents shall be notified of such deficiencies in form.
In addition to that, the tax authority was obliged to refer all appeals submitted after the Unified Tax Procedures Law has been into force, which had previously received from taxpayers including deficiencies in form, to the competent internal committee to review its content. In all cases, the committee shall not be entitled to reject the appeals submitted by the taxpayers, rather, it is entitled to refer the appeals to the competent appeal committee in its capacity as a neutral jurisdiction to consider the appeal submitted by the taxpayer.
As well, in cases where the internal committee has rejected the appeals submitted by the taxpayers, and has referred it to the competent tax authority in order to proceed with the tax assessment due to the non-appeal. Consequently, the competent authority shall reconsider the cases that tax assessments have been concluded due to the non-appeal if it is proven that there was an appeal in the legal deadline despite the fact that the required form has not been met, and refer such appeals to the internal competent committee in order to refer it to the appeal committees in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the aforementioned law.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
To conclude, this article aims to highlight the state’s keenness to achieve the concept of tax justice for both the state and taxpayers’ rights.
Tax
Public Funds Appropriation Crimes takes place once such funds has been taken by stealth, force, or deception with the intent of wasting the state’s funds. This crime, like any other crimes, must have the elements of will and knowledge of the Accuser. The sanctions varies according to the Accuser’s intention; thus, if the act of appropriation occurs with the possession intention, then the crime shall be considered a felony, on the other hand, if the crime is linked to a forgery crime or the usage of a forged document, then the sanction shall be life or rigorous imprisonment, however, if the act of appropriation occurs without the intention of ownership, thus, the crime shall be considered as a misdemeanor and the sanction shall be imprisonment in addition to a fine.
Previously, the mainstream was the lack of reconciliation in the aforementioned crimes, on the ground of the state’s right to inflict appropriate sanctions on the Accuser as a recompense for what he has committed after a fair public trial. However, such mainstream resulted in some legal, objective and procedural issues in addition to the difficulty of recovering the appropriated funds; which led to the deviation of the legislator from the original principal and placing restrictions on the criminal judge’s authorities with regards to the reconciliation cases of the public funds appropriation crimes; where the judge must rule with the case dismissal.
Pursuant to that; Decree No. 16 of 2015 was issued amending some provisions of the Criminal Procedural law and stated within its articles that it is permissible to reconcile in public funds appropriation crimes, and mentioned the reconciliation procedures where the reconciliation shall result in dismissing the criminal case with all its descriptions. The effect of such reconciliation shall extend to all accusers or convicted persons, depending on whether the case is under investigation or trial or after the issuance of the judgment.
Accordingly, in the event that the reconciliation was issued after the issuance of the judgment and before it becomes final, the execution of the sentences imposed on the offenders shall be suspended, however, if it is issued after the final judgment and the sentence has been already implemented/executed, the convicted person or attorney may submit a request to the Attorney-General supported by supporting documents in order to suspend the execution of the judgment.
Herein, we refer to one of the cases initiated by our office, where the Public Prosecution had accused (S.A) with the public funds appropriation crime that was linked to participating in a forgery crime of a document for one of the joint-stock companies, later on, the accused reconciled and returned the seized funds.
Link to case
During the trial session, the accuser’s attorney counterclaimed the dismissal of the criminal case as a result of reconciliation, and the court ruled the dismissal of the public funds appropriation crime and convicted the accuser of the forgery crime.
Maher Milad Iskandar, the accuser’s lawyer, appealed the verdict, on the ground that Article(18 bis-b) of the Criminal Procedural law allowed the accuser in the public funds appropriation crimes to reconcile, and such reconciliation entails the dismissal of the criminal case and all its related descriptions.
Accordingly, the accusation of the appellant of participating in the forgery of the company’s document is pointless, since the dismissal of public funds appropriation crime by reconciliation, which is the basis of the dispute, shall be applied to the concerned forgery crime, in this regard, the appealed judgment has to be set aside and re-issue the revocation of the appropriation criminal case altogether with the participation in the forgery of the company’s documents.
Subsequently, the Court of Cassation decided to accept the appeal, set aside the appealed ruling, and dismiss the criminal case by reconciliation.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected]
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Tax
On August 30th, 2022, Minister of Finance, His Excellency Mohamed Maait issued Decree No. 61 of 2022, which stipulates that the state shall bear real estate tax due properties utilized for certain industrial activities, for a period of three years starting from the 1st of January 2022.
This list of exemptions includes 19 industrial activities, equating to a reduction of EGP 3.3 billion EGP. These categories included textiles, engineering, mining, metal industries, leather I, wood and furniture, automobile, paper products, printing and publishing, building materials, porcelain, china fine sets and ceramics, refractories, electronic and electrical industries, manufacturing, iron, pharmaceutical, medical, chemical industry, food, plant, and animal production.
The decision has provided two conditions for the state to bear the real estate tax on the above-named sectors, namely, (I) each of the aforementioned activities must be correctly registered within the relevant authorities of the state, and (II) the exempt established properties are truly used to exercise the exempt activities.
The above decision does not prejudice the right of the Real Estate Tax Authority to collect tax arrears due for the aforementioned activities, until December 31st, 2021.
To conclude, This article aims to highlight the state’s effort to continue approving new financial and tax incentives to offset the global economic crises that have impacted economic activity negatively in recent years, mainly as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent challenges of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. The overall goal of the state is to maximize its production capabilities, enhance the competitiveness of Egyptian exports, and support the industrial sector, which enhances economic activity and achieves sustainable development.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected]
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Legal Document
Public Funds Appropriation Crimes takes place once such funds has been taken by stealth, force, or deception with the intent of wasting the state’s funds. This crime, like any other crimes, must have the elements of will and knowledge of the Accuser. The sanctions varies according to the Accuser’s intention; thus, if the act of appropriation occurs with the possession intention, then the crime shall be considered a felony, on the other hand, if the crime is linked to a forgery crime or the usage of a forged document, then the sanction shall be life or rigorous imprisonment, however, if the act of appropriation occurs without the intention of ownership, thus, the crime shall be considered as a misdemeanor and the sanction shall be imprisonment in addition to a fine.
Previously, the mainstream was the lack of reconciliation in the aforementioned crimes, on the ground of the state’s right to inflict appropriate sanctions on the Accuser as a recompense for what he has committed after a fair public trial. However, such mainstream resulted in some legal, objective and procedural issues in addition to the difficulty of recovering the appropriated funds; which led to the deviation of the legislator from the original principal and placing restrictions on the criminal judge’s authorities with regards to the reconciliation cases of the public funds appropriation crimes; where the judge must rule with the case dismissal.
Pursuant to that; Decree No. 16 of 2015 was issued amending some provisions of the Criminal Procedural law and stated within its articles that it is permissible to reconcile in public funds appropriation crimes, and mentioned the reconciliation procedures where the reconciliation shall result in dismissing the criminal case with all its descriptions. The effect of such reconciliation shall extend to all accusers or convicted persons, depending on whether the case is under investigation or trial or after the issuance of the judgment.
Accordingly, in the event that the reconciliation was issued after the issuance of the judgment and before it becomes final, the execution of the sentences imposed on the offenders shall be suspended, however, if it is issued after the final judgment and the sentence has been already implemented/executed, the convicted person or attorney may submit a request to the Attorney-General supported by supporting documents in order to suspend the execution of the judgment.
Herein, we refer to one of the cases initiated by our office, where the Public Prosecution had accused (S.A) with the public funds appropriation crime that was linked to participating in a forgery crime of a document for one of the joint-stock companies, later on, the accused reconciled and returned the seized funds.
Link to case
During the trial session, the accuser’s attorney counterclaimed the dismissal of the criminal case as a result of reconciliation, and the court ruled the dismissal of the public funds appropriation crime and convicted the accuser of the forgery crime.
Maher Milad Iskander, the accuser’s lawyer, appealed the verdict, on the ground that Article(18 bis-b) of the Criminal Procedural law allowed the accuser in the public funds appropriation crimes to reconcile, and such reconciliation entails the dismissal of the criminal case and all its related descriptions.
Accordingly, the accusation of the appellant of participating in the forgery of the company’s document is pointless, since the dismissal of public funds appropriation crime by reconciliation, which is the basis of the dispute, shall be applied to the concerned forgery crime, in this regard, the appealed judgment has to be set aside and re-issue the revocation of the appropriation criminal case altogether with the participation in the forgery of the company’s documents.
Subsequently, the Court of Cassation decided to accept the appeal, set aside the appealed ruling, and dismiss the criminal case by reconciliation.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Tax
The tax assessment is intended to determine the amount that the taxpayer is obligated to pay to the public treasury, whenever the occasions leading to tax debt owed by the taxpayer have occurred. The tax base of the taxpayer is determined and estimated according to the arbitrary discretionary method or the direct method by submitting a direct declaration from the taxpayer or submitting it through a third party.
The Unified Tax Procedures Law No. 206 of 2020, has regulated the procedures for submitting tax returns, the methods of notifying that shall be followed by the competent authority in case of tax amendment or assessment of the taxpayer takes place, and the duration of appealing a such assessment, including in particular what has been stated in Article (56) of the tax appeal stages and clarifying all aspects of the dispute in such appeal.
Moreover, the legislator provided that the tax assessment appeal shall only be taken into consideration when specifying all aspects of the dispute and the essential reasons for such appeal. However, in practice, taxpayers have submitted tax appeals on the tax assessment forms without specifying the aspects of dispute which led to the non-acceptance of the appeal, and therefore, the loss of the taxpayers’ rights.
Pursuant to that; on September 9th, 2022, the competent authority issued a periodic book regarding the procedures to be followed in the appeals submitted by the taxpayers; warning all the executive units to reject the appeals submitted by the taxpayers on the tax assessment forms except after reviewing the form validity as required by Article (56) of the aforementioned law; whereas the appeal shall be submitted to the competent commission, within the legal deadline, including all aspects of the dispute, and the appeal shall be submitted from one original document and three copies thereof. In the event of deficiencies in form, the taxpayers or their agents shall be notified of such deficiencies in form.
In addition to that, the tax authority was obliged to refer all appeals submitted after the Unified Tax Procedures Law has been into force, which had previously received from taxpayers including deficiencies in form, to the competent internal committee to review its content. In all cases, the committee shall not be entitled to reject the appeals submitted by the taxpayers, rather, it is entitled to refer the appeals to the competent appeal committee in its capacity as a neutral jurisdiction to consider the appeal submitted by the taxpayer.
As well, in cases where the internal committee has rejected the appeals submitted by the taxpayers, and has referred it to the competent tax authority in order to proceed with the tax assessment due to the non-appeal. Consequently, the competent authority shall reconsider the cases that tax assessments have been concluded due to the non-appeal if it is proven that there was an appeal in the legal deadline despite the fact that the required form has not been met, and refer such appeals to the internal competent committee in order to refer it to the appeal committees in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the aforementioned law.
To conclude, this article aims to highlight the state’s keenness to achieve the concept of tax justice for both the state and taxpayers’ rights.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Legal Document
The Personal Status Law constitutes a set of legal rules that regulate the relationship of individuals among each other, namely descent, marriage, kinship, birth, guardianship, custody, mutual rights, duties, and any dissolution that may result in alimony, custody, inheritance, and will rights.
Until now, families are caught up in suffering from crises of instability, impeded from moving forward as a result of issues and loopholes contained in the Personal Status Law’s provisions which led to the loss of both children’s and parents’ rights and long plagued the corridors of the courts and the judiciary.
Pursuant to the above-mentioned, the government submitted a new draft bill in order to amend the Personal Status Law provisions to overcome crises resulting from the current law. This bill included a wide range of articles related to marriage and divorce.
The aforementioned bill contained several provisions that attracted society’s attention, for example, but not limited to, in the event that the husband wishes to marry another woman, he must certify that matter in the court as an administrative procedure, which is done by summoning the first wife and informing her of such action; it has also granted the wife a right to choose to accept the current situation or to seek a divorce, preserving the marital and children’s rights resulting from a divorce action. Also, allocating 5% of social housing to homeless women.
Moreover, the bill grants the wife the right to seek divorce in the event she had no knowledge that her husband was already married, provided that the wife’s right to seek divorce shall be forfeited after a year upon knowledge of the other marriage, while preserving the right to seek divorce she becomes aware of another marriage within one year.
The proposed bill established a penalty for the offending husband of imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year, a fine of no less than 20,000 Egyptian pounds and no more than 50,000 Egyptian pounds, or one of these two penalties, the same shall be imposed on the person authorized to certify such marriage “Ma’zoon” in case of not informing the other wife or wives of such new marriage.
It is worth mentioning that, the aforementioned bill also criminalizes the marriage of those who have not reached the age of 18, and it established an imprisonment sanction for a period of no less than three months and no more than one year for anyone who causes, contracts, approves, documents or witnesses the marriage contract of a minor under the age of 18, unless the such marriage is ordered by the competent judge, and the penalty may not be waived in accordance with any other law.
To conclude, the aim of this article is to highlight the government’s endeavor to prepare a balanced law in favor of all family members to manage and cure societal problems in order to achieve stability for all family members.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Labor Law
Annual leave is a principal right of the employee which the employer is not entitled to withhold. Otherwise, this shall constitute an assault on the employee’s physical and mental health. The employee may not waive such right as it is guaranteed by Articles No.12 &13 of the current constitution, as well as Articles No. 47 and 48 of the Labor Law No. 12 of 2003.
The employer shall determine the annual leave in accordance with work conditions. Such annual leave may not be interrupted/withheld except in favor of the work interest. The employee is obligated to comply with the leave on the date and period specified by the employer. If the employee refuses in writing to fulfill the leave, his right to be compensated shall be forfeited.
In the event that the leave has been withheld by the employer for the work benefit, then the employer shall be responsible for settling the leave balance or the corresponding wage every three years at the most. If the working relationship ends before the employee exhausts his annual leave balance, he shall be entitled to the wage corresponding to this balance.
According to the Egyptian labor law, the annual leave period shall be 21 days with full pay for those who have spent a full year in service, which shall be increased to thirty days when the employee has spent ten or more years in service with an employer. The leave shall be for a period of thirty days per year for those over the age of fifty. Holidays, formal occasions, and weekly rest are not included in such leave. If the employee’s service period is less than one year, he shall be entitled to a leave proportionate to the period he spent at work, provided that he has spent six months in the service of the employer.
In all cases, the annual leave period shall be increased by seven days for employees who work in difficult, dangerous, or harmful work conditions, or in remote areas, which is determined by a decree from the competent minister after consulting the concerned authorities.
To conclude, this article aims to highlight the fact that protecting the employees’ rights is a constitutional obligation, as it is considered an essential element in achieving a balance between all parties in the same workplace. Hence, the constitution remains a constraint on any legislation that has been adopted that regulates the right to work and the preservation of employees’ rights.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
Environment
With regards to the achievement of a the 2050 sustainable and constructive change climate strategy in Egypt, especially after the Financial Regulatory Authority’s success in the first issuance of green bonds in the Egyptian capital market worth $ 100 million for the interest of one of the listed companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange, as it’s proceeds have been directed to finance environmental projects in order to use clean energies and mitigate the factors leading to the rise in temperature; mainly after the society’s increased awareness of the danger of climate change as a whole after the irreversibility of the environmental damages.
And in light of the Egyptian capital market being at the forefront of the scene of enacting laws and standards for disclosures of the financial impact of climate change, right after the European Union; hence, it was crucial to address the management of climate risks facing businesses and government agencies.
Pursuant to this, the Financial Regulatory Authority issued Resolution No. (107, 108) of 2021 regarding the regulations of disclosing environmental, social, and governance practices related to sustainability and the financial effects of climate change by companies operating in the non-banking financial activities and listed companies in the Egyptiaenn Stock Exchange.
According to these two resolutions, Companies of non-banking financial activities whose issued capital or net ownership equity is not less than 100 million pounds and the listed companies listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange whose issued capital or net equity is not less than EGP 500 million are required by fulfilling disclosures related to the financial effects of climate change in its annual report prepared by the Board of Directors and attached to the annual financial statements.
The above-mentioned disclosures include, but are not limited to; the percentage of carbon emission, waste management, and recycling in the environmental aspect, the diversity between both sexes and their percentage in the workplace, wage ratio, the compliance with criminalizing sexual harassment, non-discrimination, criminalization of child and forced labor policies and the compliance with labor law regulations regarding employees’ rights in the social aspect; as well as disclosing anti-bribery decisions and complying with the rules of the Personal Data Protection and Consumer Protection Law in the part of corporate governance.
Moreover, each individual decision gives the companies in question a grace period to comply with the performance indicator standards for those disclosures by complying with the performance measurement indicators of the standards of environmental, social, and corporate governance practices and climate-related financial disclosure, until the end of 2022.
To conclude, this article aims to highlight the state’s endeavor to build bridges, not barriers by adopting sustainability and climate change disclosure reports, which will reveal the extent of the sustainability of these institutions, hence, confidence will be generated among investors from making informed investment decisions by identifying risks and opportunities which hasn’t been monitored by traditional financial reports.
if you have any questions, please contact us at any moment on [email protected] or visit us on https://eg.andersen.com/
Or you can call us at +2(02)22911276
