Corporate Crime Law in Egypt: An Overview for Foreign Businesses

Egyptian law treats corporate crime as illegal conduct by companies or their officers for business purposes. In practice, corporate crimes cover a wide range of offenses – from financial fraud and embezzlement to bribery, tax evasion, and antitrust violations – whenever these acts benefit the company. Corporate crime is closely related to white-collar crime, but the two differ in focus. Corporate crime typically involves illegal acts by a company (or its agents) against the public or regulators for corporate gain, whereas white-collar crime generally refers to non-violent, financially motivated crimes committed by individuals, often against companies or governments, usually for personal benefit. In short, corporate crime can be seen as a type of white-collar crime, but specifically perpetrated in the name of the business.

For foreign companies and expatriates doing business in Egypt, understanding these distinctions is crucial. Egyptian courts can hold both the corporate entity and responsible individuals (like directors or managers) accountable. Under Egyptian law, a corporation can be held criminally liable for offenses committed on its behalf. At the same time, this corporate liability “does not exclude the individual liability of the natural persons involved”. In other words, Egyptian law punishes the company and the persons behind it. For example, the penal code and related laws authorize prison terms and fines against company executives (e.g. a chairman or board member) who commit corporate fraud, falsify accounts, misappropriate funds or violate accounting rules.

Many types of corporate wrongdoing carry stiff punishments. For instance, the Egyptian Companies Law criminalizes false accounting or unauthorized dividend payments, with penalties ranging from two to five years’ imprisonment for directors or officers who mislead shareholders or distribute dividends illegally. Likewise, competing businesses that fix prices or rig bids violate the Competition Law; cartel violations can trigger criminal fines equal to 12% of the revenues generated by the scheme (or up to EGP 500 million if revenue is hard to measure). Consumer-protection breaches (misleading labeling, selling dangerous products, etc.) can also be prosecuted – modern consumer law carries prison terms and fines up to EGP 2 million for businesses that deceive or endanger consumers.

Key corporate crimes in Egypt include:

• Financial and Economic Crimes: Fraud, embezzlement, forgery of financial records, market manipulation, insider trading, money laundering and bribery of public or private officials. These offenses are criminalized under the Penal Code and special laws (e.g. Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 80/2002).

• Tax and Customs Violations: Willful tax evasion and customs fraud. Illegally underreporting income, issuing false invoices or smuggling goods to avoid duties are punishable by law. Such violations carry heavy fines, possible imprisonment, and even asset seizure.

• Competition Offenses: Cartel behavior (price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation) and abuse of dominance. Under Competition Law No. 3/2005, these acts are criminal. In fact, cartel participants face huge penalties (e.g. a criminal fine of 12% of implicated revenue).

• Consumer-Protection Crimes: Violations of Consumer Protection Law (fraudulent advertising, selling unsafe or misbranded products, refusal to honor warranties). The law imposes criminal sanctions, including prison and multi-million-pound fines.

• Bribery and Corruption: Offering or receiving bribes (to public officials or company executives) is a serious crime under Egypt’s Penal Code and anti-corruption laws. Both the briber and recipient can be punished by imprisonment and fines.

• Other Corporate Governance Violations: Offenses like forging company ledgers, concealing information from auditors, or delaying required shareholder meetings. For example, forging corporate books is expressly an offense under the Companies Law (punishable by up to 5 years’ jail for joint-stock companies).

Corporate Crime vs. White-Collar Crime

While the terms overlap, it helps to distinguish them for clarity. Corporate crime involves illegal actions taken by or on behalf of a company, typically to benefit the company’s profits or market position. White-collar crime is a broader category of non-violent, financial wrongdoing usually committed by individuals (often professionals or public officials). In practice, corporate crimes often qualify as white-collar crimes, but the key difference is who benefits. A company committing price-fixing or falsifying its accounts is a corporate crime (benefiting the business), whereas an employee embezzling funds for personal gain is a white-collar crime.

For example, if a business colludes with competitors to set prices higher, that is a corporate (cartel) crime punishable by the Competition Law. If an executive inside a company steals money or insider-information for personal profit, that is white-collar crime (still punishable, but seen as personal misconduct). In Egypt, both are taken seriously. Corporate crimes are prosecuted against the firm itself (and its management), while white-collar crimes target the individuals.

Legal Framework Governing Corporate Crime in Egypt

Egypt’s legal framework for corporate crime is based on a mix of general criminal laws and specialized statutes. The Egyptian Penal Code (Law No. 58 of 1937, as amended) is the primary criminal law, covering broad offenses like fraud, embezzlement, bribery, forgery, and money laundering. Even though the original Penal Code is old, it has been amended (including in 2018) to address modern financial offenses. For instance, provisions on bribery and forgery have been updated, and anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-corruption laws work alongside it.

Key laws include:

• Companies Law No. 159/1981: Regulates company formation and governance. Importantly, it contains dozens of misdemeanor and felony offenses specific to corporate governance – like false accounting or illegal dividend distribution – with their own penalties.

• Competition Law No. 3/2005 (as amended): Prohibits cartels, abuse of market power and other anti-competitive practices. Violations are criminal and investigated by the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA).

• Consumer Protection Law (latest version 2020): Criminalizes deceptive or hazardous business practices that harm consumers. Penalties include imprisonment and heavy fines up to EGP 2 million.

• Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 80/2002 (as amended): Criminalizes laundering proceeds of “predicate” offenses. It imposes fines, asset forfeiture and prison terms on companies and individuals who facilitate money laundering.

• Tax Procedures Law No. 206/2020: Governs taxation and penalizes willful tax evasion. Under this law, failure to report or pay taxes (including customs duties) is a criminal act.

• Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Laws: The Penal Code itself (e.g. Articles 103–111 on bribery) and various laws (like the Anti-Graft Law 1975 and recent amendments) make bribery of domestic or foreign officials a crime.

• Electronic Signature Law, Investment Law, etc.: Several other sector-specific laws (on banking, insurance, telecoms, etc.) include criminal penalties for corporate violations.

Investigations and prosecutions follow the Criminal Procedure Law No. 150/1950, which vests exclusive investigative power in the Public Prosecution (with some delegated powers). In practice, this means corporate crimes are handled through the general criminal justice system, except that many financial crimes are heard by Economic Courts. These specialized tribunals (established by Presidential Decree) handle offenses under the Companies Law, Competition Law, AML Law, Consumer Law, Investment Law and similar statutes. Ordinary criminal courts (without juries, as Egypt has no jury trials) hear other felonies and misdemeanors.

Corporate Criminal Liability in Egypt

Egyptian law does not categorically immunize companies from punishment. While the Penal Code was originally written with individuals in mind, both statutes and judicial practice now allow corporate entities to be fined or dissolved for crimes, alongside any natural persons responsible. Corporate criminal liability typically requires that the offense have occurred “for the benefit of the company” and that the offender be a company representative (manager, board member or agent). For example, if directors knowingly submit false financial statements, both the company and those directors can face penalties.

Criminal liability in Egypt is generally personal, but it extends to “moral persons” in practice. As one source notes, “Egyptian law does not recognize the doctrine of successor criminal liability” – liability stays with the actual offender, whether person or firm. That said, certain laws explicitly punish the company itself. For instance, if a corporate shareholder issues shares fraudulently, the company can be held accountable (facing fines and corrective measures). Importantly, corporate liability does not shield individuals: a company’s board member who commits a crime cannot hide behind the corporate veil. Egyptian courts have repeatedly held that officers are individually liable for their wrongful acts, even as the company may also be sanctioned.

In practice, this means: a foreign firm operating in Egypt can be prosecuted directly under Egyptian law, and so can its local officers. For example, under Egypt’s Companies Law, a chairman who distributes dividends illegally or conceals losses is personally criminally liable – punishable by years in prison. The law even allows corporate entities to “reconcile” minor offenses: since 2018 the Prime Minister can accept a settlement payment (twice the minimum fine) to drop certain company-law charges. But for serious violations (like fraud or tax evasion), there is no such shelter – both company and individuals face trial and punishment.

Financial & Economic Crimes

A broad class of corporate offenses falls under “financial and economic crimes.” These include fraud (such as falsifying accounting documents or investment prospectuses), embezzlement (misappropriation of company funds), forgery, insider trading (though not heavily enforced in practice), market manipulation, and money laundering. Bribery of public officials or private sector bribery schemes (in violation of Chapter 3 of the Penal Code) also fits here. Egypt’s Anti-Money Laundering Law criminalizes hiding illicit proceeds from any of these predicate crimes.

Importantly, economic crimes often overlap with corruption and corporate governance violations. For example, a company that submits fake balance sheets to the stock market or conceals losses may be charged with false accounting and market fraud. Similarly, a company involved in smuggling funds abroad or channeling kickbacks would face money-laundering charges. Penalties can be severe: imprisonment from several years up to life or even death in extreme cases (e.g. large-scale fraud harming national economy), plus crushing fines and asset forfeiture. Even misdemeanors (like negligent bookkeeping) can carry jail time and fines to protect investors and employees.

Examples of financial/economic corporate crimes: issuance of fake financial reports, embezzlement by officers, false prospectuses in an IPO, insider trading based on confidential information, falsifying bank guarantees, or misusing company capital (e.g. for illegal activities). Convicted companies or their executives can face multi-year prison terms and compulsory compensation for victims. Egypt’s specialized Economic Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over many of these offenses, reflecting their economic importance.

Corporate Tax and Customs Violations

Tax evasion is explicitly criminal under Egyptian law. Companies (and their officers) that willfully underreport income, inflate costs, fail to file returns, or engage in schemes like false invoicing commit a crime. The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) actively prosecutes such cases. For example, a business caught smuggling goods to dodge customs duties or manipulating invoices to reduce VAT will face harsh penalties. Indeed, the ETA estimates that such evasion costs the state billions of pounds annually.

Penalties for tax fraud include hefty fines, interest on unpaid taxes, and imprisonment for responsible individuals. A recent amendment (Law No. 30 of 2023) even rewards whistleblowers who expose evasion. Customs violations are similarly severe. The new Egyptian Customs Law treats smuggling and related fraud as serious crimes. Courts can confiscate goods involved in customs evasion, and the law sharply raises fines for offenders. In fact, customs evasion has been described as a “crime against honor and honesty,” reflecting its gravity.

Common tax/customs offenses: under-invoicing, false declaration of goods, smuggling undeclared or restricted items, and using illicit trade routes. Any foreign or local company performing import-export must comply strictly; violations can trigger criminal investigations. Both the company and the customs broker or accounting officer may be charged. For foreign firms, failure to pay Egyptian taxes (on local profits or transactions) can lead to prosecution just as it would for a local company.

Competition and Consumer-Protection Crimes

Egypt’s Competition Law makes collusion and anti-competitive conduct criminal. Agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids, divide markets or limit production are outlawed. Remarkably, participating in a “cartel violation” can bring a criminal fine equal to 12% of the revenue from the illegal agreement. If the revenue is hard to measure, fines can go up to EGP 500 million. In practice, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) has begun aggressively enforcing these rules (for example, prosecuting dozens of poultry suppliers for price-fixing in 2025). Executives can be personally charged for cartel behavior alongside their firms.

For consumer protection, the law forbids cheating or endangering buyers. Offenses include false or misleading advertising, selling defective or mislabeled products, violating product safety standards, and refusing to honor mandatory warranties. Under the Consumer Protection Law, such violations are penalized to deter wrongdoing: convicted businesses can face jail time for their managers and fines up to EGP 2 million. The law also empowers inspectors to seize or destroy harmful goods. For example, if a company is caught distributing expired food or fraudulent medical products, Egyptian regulators can initiate criminal proceedings, leading to prison and massive fines.

Key offences under these laws include:

• Competition (Cartel) Crimes: price-fixing, bid rigging, output restriction or market-sharing among businesses. These are strictly criminal, and Egypt’s leniency program offers immunity only to whistleblowers who fully confess first.

• Abuse of Market Power: Penalizing a dominant firm that unfairly excludes competitors or imposes unfair terms. Such conduct can also lead to criminal charges.

• Consumer Crimes: False labeling, short-weighing of goods, misrepresentation in contracts, bogus lotteries, and other frauds against consumers. The Consumer Protection Agency has its own judicial officers to enforce the law, reflecting strict compliance.

Domestic companies and foreign enterprises alike must heed these rules. A foreign company selling products or operating in Egypt is subject to the same competition and consumer laws. For example, a foreign retailer using deceptive promotions could be prosecuted, and a foreign supplier caught in a price-fixing scheme can be fined as above.

Enforcement & Investigation of Corporate Crimes

Multiple government bodies coordinate Egypt’s fight against corporate crime. The Public Prosecution is the central authority – it handles all criminal cases, including corporate and financial offenses. When a corporate crime is reported or detected, the Public Prosecution leads the investigation, gathering evidence and directing specialized agencies. Other key agencies include:

• Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA): Oversees non-banking financial markets (insurance, capital markets) and investigates irregularities like securities fraud. It refers suspect cases to prosecutors.

• State Accountability Authority (ASA): An independent body auditing public finances. If it uncovers misuse of state or public funds (e.g. a company stealing government contracts), it refers cases to the public prosecution.

• Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (AMLTFCU): A unit of the Central Bank of Egypt tasked with monitoring financial transactions. It flags suspicious activity (for instance, large unexplained transfers by a company) and works with investigators on money-laundering cases.

• Administrative Control Authority (ACA): Egypt’s anti-corruption watchdog. It can investigate bribery and corruption in both public and private sectors, and bring cases against companies or executives, referring them to the Public Prosecution when needed.

• Sector Regulators (e.g. Tax Authority, Customs Authority): Although not independent enforcement agencies, bodies like the ETA or Customs can initiate cases for tax fraud or smuggling. Notably, only the Public Prosecution can formally commence criminal proceedings – others must refer cases to it.

Investigations are generally led by prosecutors (sometimes aided by forensic accountants or police). The law grants them broad powers: they can order search and seizure of records, compel testimony, and detain suspects during inquiries. Raids and data audits are common in financial crimes; for instance, authorities may freeze a company’s bank accounts if linked to bribery. At all times, suspects have rights under Criminal Procedure Law: they must be informed of charges and are generally allowed a lawyer during questioning.

Egypt’s specialized Economic Courts play a role in enforcement. Many corporate offenses fall exclusively under their jurisdiction. For example, violations of the Companies Law, Competition Law, AML Law, Consumer Law and even the Investment Law are heard by these courts. They are presided over by professional judges (there are no juries). Ordinary criminal courts handle other offenses like general fraud or theft.

Procedurally, corporate crime cases cannot begin until the Public Prosecution approves them. Once approved, the accused (individuals or companies) are formally charged and prosecuted in court. Egypt’s Criminal Procedure Law ensures cases proceed publicly, with the prosecutor presenting evidence. Economic Courts often move faster on white-collar cases, but trials can still be lengthy due to the complexity of financial evidence.

Role of the Egyptian Public Prosecution

The Egyptian Public Prosecution is the linchpin of enforcement. It has the exclusive authority to initiate criminal action. This means no private party (not even the tax or customs authorities) can lay charges independently; they must submit evidence to the Public Prosecution, which then decides whether to pursue the case. In practice, this creates a unified system: all corporate crime allegations end up before a prosecutor.

Prosecutors can conduct investigations themselves or appoint members of the prosecution (deputy prosecutors) to do so. They can also delegate certain investigative powers to police detectives, especially for straightforward cases. They issue arrest warrants, supervise searches, and gather witness statements. If they find sufficient evidence, the Public Prosecution will refer the case to a competent court (economic or ordinary) for trial. If not, it may dismiss the case or offer settlement options (e.g. reconciliation on minor charges).

Once in court, the Public Prosecutor acts as the state’s legal representative, presenting evidence against the accused company or individuals. Egyptian practice typically involves written submissions and oral arguments by the prosecution. Notably, the general rule is that the Public Prosecutor remains actively involved even at trial, calling and examining witnesses. Private parties (like aggrieved investors) may also file parallel civil claims, but the prosecutor’s case is separate.

Because the Public Prosecution is the gatekeeper, companies often engage with prosecutors before a case is filed. For example, in less severe corporate offenses, a company might “reconcile” by paying agreed fines under the Companies Law. In more serious cases, lawyers may negotiate with the prosecution (e.g. offering documents to prove compliance) to influence the outcome. But ultimately, the prosecutor’s decision to file charges depends on whether the legal elements of a crime are satisfied by the evidence.

Penalties and Remedies for Corporate Crimes

Violating Egypt’s corporate crime laws can lead to multiple sanctions. The penalties combine criminal punishment (for the offense) and ancillary consequences for the company and its officers. Key sanctions include:

• Imprisonment for Individuals: Directors, officers or employees found guilty of corporate crimes often face prison terms. For many corporate offenses (fraud, bribery, tax evasion) sentences range from a few years up to 7 years or more. Under the Companies Law, offences like fraudulent share issuance or illicit dividends carry 2–5 years’ imprisonment. For cartel crimes, managers can face similar or greater terms.

• Fines on Companies and Individuals: Companies themselves are heavily fined. For example, cartel violators pay a percentage of turnover (12% of illegal revenue). Customs evasion and major fraud can trigger multimillion-pound fines. Individuals also pay fines, often proportional to the damage caused. The minimum and maximum fines under statutes have been substantially increased in recent years.

• Asset Forfeiture and Confiscation: Egyptian law allows courts to seize proceeds and instrumentalities of crime. This includes confiscating illegal profits, and in customs cases even the smuggled goods. Authorities can order bank freezes on company accounts tied to criminal funds. For example, in money-laundering cases, companies can be stripped of laundered assets.

• Dissolution or Suspension of the Company: In extreme cases, a court or administrative authority may dissolve a corporate entity found complicit in serious crimes. Contracts or licenses held by the firm can be revoked. While not automatic for all crimes, companies convicted of egregious economic offenses risk being liquidated or barred from certain sectors by regulatory decree.

• Bans on Individuals: Beyond imprisonment, convicted officers may be banned from serving as board members or managers of any joint-stock company. A final conviction under the Companies Law automatically disqualifies the individual from such roles. Even without formal ban, a criminal record typically prevents an executive from operating in Egypt.

• Corporate Reputational Damage: Although not a statutory penalty, a public conviction destroys trust. Banks may sever ties with a convicted company, and partners or investors will disassociate. This “shadow penalty” can force a company to cease operations even if not formally dissolved.

For example, recent cases have seen executives jailed for lying on financial statements, with accompanying corporate fines of tens of millions of pounds. In cartel cases, the ECA has imposed both penalties and bans on winning future government contracts. Under the penal code, certain financial crimes (like grand embezzlement) can even carry life imprisonment.

In sum, penalties for corporate crime in Egypt are severe and multifaceted. They are designed to punish wrongdoing, deter future violations, and compensate the harmed parties. Given the collective nature of corporate liability in civil claims, boards often face personal lawsuits on top of these sanctions.

Compliance and Preventive Measures

Given the harsh penalties, Egyptian companies (and foreign firms in Egypt) invest heavily in compliance programs. Preventive measures are key to avoid the risk of criminal liability. Common compliance steps include:

• Robust Internal Controls: Implementing strict accounting systems, regular audits (internal and external), and clear bookkeeping to prevent fraud. This helps ensure accurate financial records, as required by law.

• Anti-Corruption Policies: Formal anti-bribery and ethics policies, training employees on gifts/offerings rules, and establishing hotlines for reporting unethical behavior. Companies often require pre-clearance for gifts or sponsorships involving public officials.

• Due Diligence on Partners: Screening foreign agents, joint-venture partners, suppliers and consultants. Since companies can be liable for acts of their agents, it is common to vet and contractually bind them to Egyptian legal standards.

• Tax Compliance: Closely following Egyptian tax regulations, using professional tax advisors, and avoiding aggressive tax schemes. Some companies even self-report errors to the Tax Authority to avoid criminal charges, taking advantage of provisions for voluntary disclosure.

• Regulatory Cooperation: Voluntarily cooperating with authorities during inspections or investigations (providing documents, freezing suspect transactions). This can mitigate penalties or result in leniency agreements. For instance, Egypt’s leniency program under the Competition Law grants full immunity to the first whistleblower in a cartel.

• Corporate Governance: Ensuring transparency in board decision-making and keeping thorough minutes, so that if a compliance breach occurs, the company can show it was not a collective decision. Some boards formally record dissent when illegal actions are proposed, to protect non-participating directors.

• Reconciliation and Settlement: Utilizing lawful settlement options. The Companies Law allows certain misdemeanors to be “reconciled” by paying a specified amount (the Prime Minister can accept payments double the minimum fine). Similarly, the Competition Authority’s leniency program offers amnesty or reduced fines to companies that come forward.

In practice, many Egypt-bound companies hire legal counsel to conduct compliance audits, issue memoranda on Egyptian criminal laws, and continually monitor the legal landscape (as changes are frequent). A strong compliance regime not only prevents crimes but also demonstrates corporate good faith to regulators and courts.

International and Cross-Border Corporate Crimes

Egypt participates in the global fight against transnational financial crimes. Its laws are primarily territorial, but they allow limited extraterritorial reach. For example, under anti-money laundering rules and the penal code, Egypt can prosecute its own nationals or residents for crimes committed abroad if those acts would also be illegal under Egyptian law and affect Egypt. In practice, this means an Egyptian-owned company might face charges at home for overseas bribery if the bribe produces proceeds or benefits in Egypt.

Conversely, crimes committed in Egypt by foreigners are tried in Egypt, and if proceeds of crime are brought into Egypt, they can be seized. Egyptian courts “may assert jurisdiction if a crime’s proceeds are located in Egypt, or if the crime impacts Egyptian interests”. Egypt has signed mutual legal assistance (MLA) treaties with many countries (like the USA, India, South Africa, etc.), and it is party to UN conventions on transnational crime and corruption. These treaties allow Egyptian prosecutors to request evidence or asset recovery abroad, and similarly to cooperate with foreign authorities investigating Egyptian-linked crime.

However, most Egyptian criminal laws (including corporate ones) do not automatically apply to all foreign conduct. They have extraterritorial effect only in narrow cases (such as dual criminality or when Egyptian nationals are involved). For example, a foreign subsidiary’s offense outside Egypt might escape prosecution unless it has Egyptian links. That said, some broad statutes (like the AML law) specifically target overseas transactions with local banks.

Egypt also relies on extradition for serious offenders. It has extradition treaties and, under customary international law, may request the return of non-nationals charged with serious crimes. In practice, however, diplomatic considerations and human-rights safeguards can complicate extradition.

Foreign Companies and Corporate Crime in Egypt: Common Questions

Are foreign companies subject to Egyptian corporate crime law?

 Yes. Any company – whether locally incorporated or foreign-owned – operating in Egypt must obey Egyptian criminal laws. If a foreign firm commits an offense on Egyptian soil (or affects the Egyptian market), it can be prosecuted. For example, a multinational with an Egypt branch that falsifies local accounts or violates competition rules is liable just like an Egyptian firm. Egyptian courts have jurisdiction over crimes whose “proceeds are located in Egypt” or which involve Egyptian entities, so local nexus is enough. Even purely foreign companies can fall under Egyptian law if, say, they bribe Egyptian officials or defraud Egyptian citizens. In summary, doing business in Egypt means being subject to Egyptian corporate crime statutes.

Do foreign company executives face personal criminal liability in Egypt?

 Yes. Egyptian courts can hold individual executives criminally responsible for corporate crimes they commit in Egypt. The law is clear that directors, managers and officers can be tried and punished for fraud, embezzlement, bribery and other offenses performed on behalf of their companies. Personal liability applies equally to foreigners and Egyptians. For instance, if a foreign manager authorizes a false accounting scheme at the local subsidiary, he/she could be arrested and tried under Egyptian law. Personal criminal liability “does not exclude” executive liability – meaning a court can imprison an officer even if it also fines or dissolves the company. Historical cases have seen company chairpersons jailed (2–5 years) for misusing company capital, distributing illegal dividends or allowing false books. The take-home point: foreign executives in Egypt have no immunity from local criminal prosecutions for corporate crimes.

Can a foreign company be prosecuted for tax evasion in Egypt?

 Yes. If a foreign firm owes taxes or duties in Egypt and evades them, Egyptian authorities can prosecute it. Tax evasion is a criminal offense under Egyptian law. For example, a foreign importer avoiding customs duty by underreporting shipments would face prosecution under the Customs Law. The fact that a company is foreign-owned does not shield it from Egyptian tax law if the taxable activities occur here. In practice, this means all businesses operating in Egypt (branches of foreign multinationals included) must comply with VAT, income tax, and customs laws or risk criminal charges and sanctions.

Are foreign subsidiaries treated the same as local companies in criminal cases?

 Generally, yes. A subsidiary incorporated in Egypt is treated like any other Egyptian company for criminal purposes. It is subject to the same laws and penalties. If it commits an offense (even if its parent is foreign), the local subsidiary can be fined, and its local executives prosecuted. If the parent is directly prosecuted (e.g. for money laundering through the subsidiary), Egyptian courts will enforce against assets and operations of the subsidiary. The law makes no special exceptions based on nationality of ownership. One nuance is that branches of foreign companies (not formally incorporated as Egyptian entities) operate under similar rules: if a branch’s Egyptian activities cause a crime, authorities act against the branch as if it were a local firm.

Can Egypt seize the assets of a foreign company?

 Egypt can seize any assets located in its territory. If a foreign company is convicted of a crime in Egypt, local assets (bank accounts, property, equipment) can be frozen or confiscated by Egyptian courts as part of sentencing. Even during an investigation, prosecutors may request emergency measures to secure those assets. As noted earlier, Egyptian law permits confiscation of illicit proceeds and allows courts to claim jurisdiction where “proceeds are located in Egypt”. However, assets held entirely outside Egypt are beyond its direct reach unless recovered through international cooperation. In practice, foreign companies doing business in Egypt risk losing any local assets or payments if convicted of corporate crime.

Do foreign companies risk being banned or dissolved in Egypt?

 Yes. A company convicted of certain corporate crimes can face administrative penalties including suspension of activities or even dissolution. For example, the Commercial Code and Companies Law empower authorities to revoke licenses or dissolve companies that flagrantly break the law. While outright corporate dissolution is rare and usually reserved for severe abuses (like bankruptcy fraud), other sanctions are common. Authorities may bar a convicted firm from public tenders, revoke special permits, or impose a temporary shutdown. Even short of legal dissolution, a criminal conviction can cause de facto closure: banks might withdraw services, and regulators can blacklist the company from future contracts. In sum, a foreign company that flouts Egyptian law risks losing its ability to operate in the country.

What role do foreign embassies play in criminal cases against companies?

 Foreign embassies and consulates have limited formal power in Egyptian prosecutions. Under international law (Vienna Conventions), an embassy’s main role is to provide consular assistance to its nationals and ensure they receive fair treatment. Embassies can send consular officers to visit arrested citizens, offer lists of lawyers, and monitor legal rights. They may also raise general concerns through diplomatic channels if nationals face what they deem unfair legal treatment. However, they cannot interfere directly in Egyptian courts or halt prosecutions of companies. In practice, a foreign embassy might contact Egyptian authorities to follow up on the welfare of its citizens or to request information. But the criminal case itself proceeds under Egyptian law, with no special exceptions for foreign involvement. (Our sources do not indicate any unique embassy privileges in corporate crime cases.)

Summary for Expats: Any company or executive doing business in Egypt, whether local or foreign, must navigate a strict legal environment. Corporate missteps – from financial fraud to antitrust violations – are punishable by criminal law. Egypt’s robust enforcement and heavy penalties mean prevention and compliance are essential. Foreign businesses should maintain transparent operations, adhere closely to tax and trade regulations, and seek legal guidance in Egypt. This ensures that corporate growth in Egypt does not fall foul of laws designed to safeguard the economy and public.