In an increasingly complex investment market, disputes between business partners can move far beyond courtrooms. The case of Reda Abdel Karim, a French national of Egyptian origin, illustrates how competing accounts of ownership and loss can become a public campaign.
Abdel Karim alleges that his ready-mix concrete company’s assets at Cairo’s Sun Capital project were systematically seized. He has filed complaints and launched an extensive media campaign. Yet contracts, prosecution records and other documents obtained by Zawia3 present a more complicated picture. This investigation asks who owned the equipment, what the agreements provided and how the dispute developed.
The managing director of Egyptian Star for Trade and Investment accuses oversight, judicial and executive bodies of complicity or inaction over what he calls a systematic takeover. He links it to his refusal to participate in alleged money-laundering activities involving an influential businessman, and claims losses exceeding EGP 80 million. These are his allegations, rather than findings established by the documents reviewed.
In complaint 1178311 to the prosecutor-general on 16 April 2025, he accused businessmen El Sayed El Mekawy and Ahmed Abdel Alim, head of Sham Equipment, alongside Tarek Shoukry, deputy chair of parliament’s housing committee and chairman of Arabia Holding, which owns Sun Capital. He alleged that forged licences in Abdel Alim’s name were used to remove concrete pumps from Alexandria port with Gulf Agency Company Egypt’s involvement.
Abdel Karim says Egyptian Star worked inside Sun Capital, owned by Arabia Holding for Real Estate Development. Shoukry also held leadership positions in the real-estate development chamber of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, the New Cairo Investors Association and Mostaqbal Watan’s central housing secretariat.
Abdel Karim alleges that project security personnel and armed men barred his employees from the site and took equipment, offices and financial receivables of approximately EGP 50 million.
In October 2020, Egyptian Star issued a statement warning against buying or renting equipment and movable assets it claimed to own at Plot 1 in Sun Capital, October Gardens, within the Third 6 October police district. It said it had filed a theft report under Article 318 of the Penal Code, registered as misdemeanour case 6926/2019.
The statement said a police officer inspected the site on prosecution instructions and found the disputed property there: a ready-mix plant, generators, silos, mixers, electronics and specialist concrete-production machinery. Presence at the site, however, was not by itself a finding of ownership.
According to Sun Capital’s website, the project covers 553 feddans and is planned as an integrated development of homes, offices, two international schools and two hotels, Fairmont and InterContinental. Arabia Holding’s Plot 1 in October Gardens, Giza, was allocated by the New Urban Communities Authority under an agreement dated 2 August 2015 and Ministerial Decision 672 of 29 July 2017.
Abdel Karim created a website, Facebook page, X account and YouTube channel under the title “The Case of Reda Abdel Karim,” posting videos appealing to Egyptian authorities. His site alleges that offices and stores were seized together with documents, raw materials and heavy equipment.
His inventory includes a 120-cubic-metre-per-hour concrete plant, two truck-mounted pumps with 42-metre booms, eight nine-cubic-metre mixers, a fully equipped quality-control laboratory, a maintenance workshop and spare parts, a four-megawatt generator, a sand-and-aggregate screening machine and a loader.
Alleged forged authorisations and accusations against banks
Abdel Karim introduces himself as an engineer and investor holding French, British and Swiss nationality, with hotel, restaurant and import-export investments in Britain and France. He did not identify those ventures during his interview. He says he returned to Egypt in 2017 after 48 years abroad and joined twelve other Egyptian investors in Egyptian Star.
Its activities included ready-mix concrete, building materials such as sand and gravel, finishing works, excavation, infrastructure, agricultural investment and seed production.
He alleges that, in 2019, the company agreed with Ahmed Abdel Alim’s Sham Equipment to import eight Zoomlion concrete pumps mounted on Mercedes and Scania trucks from Germany and Italy for EGP 30 million. Shipments were expected in October, November and December 2019.
Egyptian Star opened a customs file at Alexandria port with its official documents and contact details, he says. Other bodies—the port authority, shipping agent and General Authority for Roads and Bridges—were to obtain the information electronically to complete clearance. The equipment did not reach his company.
According to his account, customs officials said the shipments had already been released and the paperwork showed Egyptian Star had received them. He alleges they were removed from the port on 9 February 2020 using an authorisation in Ahmed Mohamed Abdel Alim’s name for Al Reem Customs Clearance.
He claims it bore a forged CIB signature-authentication stamp dated 6 February 2019 while relying on a power of attorney executed on 15 October 2019. This chronology is part of his allegation.
His website says Al Reem presented the disputed authorisation to Gulf Agency Company Egypt to obtain delivery orders and complete clearance. It alleges that handwritten documents substituted “Egyptian Star Contracting” for “Egyptian Star for Trade and Investment” while retaining the latter’s tax-card number.
He says later clearance-approval letters from the roads authority were issued to Egyptian Star Contracting and signed and stamped by Mohamed Anany Abdel Latif, head of the central land-transport administration.
Gulf Agency Company Egypt provides shipping and logistics services to multinational clients. It featured in coverage of the Ever Given grounding in the Suez Canal in March 2021 and works with the Suez Canal Authority. Available online information describes Al Reem as a customs-clearance and international freight business providing land, air and sea shipping to countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Jordan, plus packaging and storage.
In his interview, Abdel Karim accused Arab African International Bank, CIB and Bank of Alexandria of allowing authorisations with forged bank stamps. He also alleged that Arab African International Bank disclosed company account information. He said he complained to then-central-bank governor Tarek Amer without subsequent action.
Abdel Karim says El Sayed Abdel Halim El Mekawy offered substantial funding in return for 51% of Egyptian Star. He says the proposal raised suspicions of money laundering or smuggling and was rejected.
“After that, they decided to drain all our investment,” Abdel Karim alleges, accusing his opponents of removing equipment, falsifying payment certificates, misappropriating bank funds, death threats and attacks on his car. The companies and representatives interviewed below dispute his account.
Complaints, investigations and acquittal
Abdel Karim says Egyptian Star discovered a forged Form 6 in the name of Egyptian Star Contracting, with disputed Bank of Alexandria and CIB authentication stamps and Ahmed Abdel Alim Bayoumi’s name. He says no customs file existed for that contracting company.
The allegation was recorded as administrative case 1084/2020 at Bab Sharq, Alexandria, and investigated for approximately eighteen months. It was subsequently registered as felony case 17592/2021, Bab Sharq, and overall case 1090/2021, East Alexandria prosecution.
His website lists further complaints and objections to the prosecutor-general and Alexandria appeal prosecution, including electronic petition 13018 of 24 March 2021, petition 49395/2022 and petition 588940 of 13 November 2023.
He says Ahmed Abdel Alim and Al Reem employees were referred to court for participation in forgery of an official document. The first bench recused itself. The case ultimately reached the Eighth Criminal Circuit, where Judge Abdullah Abdel Qader El Kilany acquitted the defendants.
Abdel Karim says two pieces of equipment were subsequently located on the road and remained at police stations. He alleges officials refused to release them because of influence and corruption. He questions how such large trucks and machinery could leave a port without permits.
He insists Egyptian Star’s contracts were directly with Sun Capital and that the company was not a subcontractor. Any replacement, he says, should have followed settlement of its entitlements.
Asked what he sought through his campaign, he demanded compensation from Gulf Agency Company as shipping agent, accountability for alleged customs wrongdoing, and payment and compensation from the project owner for damaged machinery. He also accused the project of continuing work under Egyptian Star’s licences.
The contract identifies Modern Building as the equipment owner
An agreement obtained by Zawia3, dated 26 September 2018, was signed between Egyptian Star and Modern Building, a ready-mix concrete company. Mohamed El Sayed Ibrahim El Husseiny signed for Egyptian Star as the board chair’s authorised representative under power of attorney 1716/S/2018, Sheikh Zayed notary office.
Engineer Hany Mohamed Mohamed Ali Youssef signed for Modern Building as chairman. The company’s address is Plot 185, First Industrial Zone, 6 October City, and its commercial registration is 9955, dated 27 October 2014.
The agreement provides that Modern Building replaces Egyptian Star in the obligations of its contract with Sun City Contracting and assumes full responsibility for performance. Egyptian Star delegates the powers required for Modern Building to deal with Sun City.
Modern Building must produce and supply concrete to the agreed standards using its own plant installed at Sun Capital. It is to provide a new computer-operated 120-cubic-metre-per-hour plant, eight mixer trucks, two pumps with 42-metre booms, a water chiller, loader and fully equipped quality-control laboratory with technicians. Sun City covers civil works.
The agreement states that the plant and production equipment at the site belong exclusively to Modern Building. Egyptian Star owns no part of them and may not retain them for any reason.
Modern Building may withdraw the equipment if Egyptian Star breaches the agreement or the Sun City contract ends. Egyptian Star handles administration and collects cheques and cash from Sun City, transferring the proceeds to Modern Building once received.
A jointly appointed financial manager handles accounting against Sun City payment certificates after salaries and expenses. Egyptian Star receives EGP 8 for each cubic metre produced; Modern Building pays plant and equipment maintenance costs.
The agreement provides monthly payment after review, with 5% retained as security and 1% deducted as tax. Required compliance papers, certificates of origin and licences must be supplied. Its provisions address termination and recovery of costs for default, with a delay penalty of 1% daily capped at 10% of the contract value.
Sham Equipment’s account: rented machinery and a leasing proposal
Zawia3 contacted Tarek Shoukry about the allegations. He denied them, described Abdel Karim as having no relevant connection and accused him of fraud. He promised a response through the company’s legal adviser, said legal steps would follow and warned against inaccurate publication about his company.
Ahmed Abdel Alim, chairman of Sham Equipment, gave Zawia3 a detailed competing account. He says Egyptian Star initially worked in agricultural products with limited capital. Mohamed El Husseiny, husband of its chair Samar Hamdy, became acquainted with Tarek El Tawil and his brother Hany, who owned Modern Building.
According to Abdel Alim, Arabia Holding had assigned concrete work at Sun Capital to Hany’s business, but financial and legal problems involving cheques led to a proposal that Egyptian Star add ready-mix concrete to its activities and work in its place for an agreed payment. That activity was added in 2018.
He says Modern Building’s worn equipment prompted an approach to his Sham Mix business, which owned modern machinery available for hire, to operate at Sun Capital under Egyptian Star’s name.
He alleges that equipment ownership licences bore Hany El Tawil’s name while Egyptian Star branding was placed on vehicles to present the company to the client and consultant as the operator. He says he entered through normal commercial paperwork: a supply order, rental contract and signed trust receipts.
Abdel Alim says El Husseiny later added Abdel Karim, who held a French passport, to the commercial register to place the business under an investment framework and obtain facilities. He then sought EGP 35 million in finance leasing and asked to buy pumps rather than hire one for EGP 250,000.
Abdel Alim says he provided a quotation and Form S14. When financing was obstructed by the plant’s paperwork being in Hany El Tawil’s name, he alleges El Husseiny asked to place Egyptian Star branding on Abdel Alim’s own plant at October Airport for an inspection.
He says El Husseiny needed a construction licence held in Abdel Alim’s name and borrowed EGP 300,000, signing a trust receipt. Abdel Alim claims he obtained a three-year prison judgment over that debt and another three-year judgment against Samar Hamdy concerning a second EGP 300,000 loan. The licence problem remained unresolved and he withdrew.
According to Abdel Alim, the leasing company alleged forged papers and a false bank statement, and required a supply order, physically present equipment and licensing before releasing money. He describes a proposal to finance eight pumps at EGP 35 million over twelve years, with instalments around EGP 1.5 million, each pump potentially yielding EGP 250,000 monthly and assets ultimately worth EGP 50 million.
Once it inspected Sham’s equipment, he says, the financier considered purchasing machinery and leasing it onward to Egyptian Star with a promise of ownership at the end.
He describes two import options: commercial import under his own documentation and security permit, or private use for Egyptian Star. He says he accepted a structure in which he owned the machinery and the finance company purchased and leased it onward under his guarantee, in exchange for a general power of attorney before equipment worth EGP 40 million arrived.
When the machinery arrived in Egyptian Star’s name, he says, the company could not prove ownership of a project where it would be installed, so financing was refused. He alleges El Husseiny then acknowledged the machinery was his and was offered a commission for finding buyers.
Abdel Alim says that was how he personally met El Sayed El Mekawy and Tarek Shoukry. He sold four items and arranged licences as authorised representative.
He also says he lent Egyptian Star more than EGP 600,000 to settle tax and social-insurance debts, restore its government-related business status and register imported equipment. He alleges El Husseiny subsequently sought EGP 1 million in commission without contributing to sales, then increased the demand to EGP 4 million.
Abdel Alim argues that the general power of attorney obtained before customs clearance gave him legal authority over the disputed assets and allowed ownership-validation proceedings for purchasers. He says it could not be revoked unilaterally, that he was acquitted of forgery and theft accusations, and that he obtained judgments against El Husseiny and Hamdy.
Termination provisions in the Sun City contract
A separate agreement obtained by Zawia3 between Sun City Contracting and Egyptian Star requires the latter to remedy breaches or damage within 48 hours, failing which Sun City can intervene at its expense. If Egyptian Star withdraws or defaults, Sun City can finish the work itself or appoint another contractor.
The contract provides for termination without court proceedings if Egyptian Star fails to meet its obligations. Conduct obstructing work or violating Sun City’s instructions can trigger immediate termination, with liability for damage and compensation.
Egyptian Star must supply materials, machinery and labour at its own cost, including wages, insurance and accommodation; secure the site with protective equipment, emergency exits, first aid and lighting; provide concrete and equipment meeting Egyptian and international specifications; and obtain licences and permits.
It is responsible for injury or damage arising from its or its staff’s negligence. Sun City is not liable for maintenance-period delay or Egyptian Star’s failure to supply. The agreement addresses defective equipment, replacement costs and deductions for default, monthly payment review, the 5% security retention, 1% tax deduction and supporting certification.
The reproduced contract also contains provisions for termination and deduction of costs for the other party’s default, and a delay penalty of 1% per day capped at 10%. These are contractual provisions described in the investigation, rather than a court ruling resolving every disputed obligation.
Company capital and the commercial register
Abdel Karim’s EGP 80 million loss claim sits alongside a company whose issued capital reached EGP 1.15 million in 2019 and authorised capital EGP 11.5 million. Capital figures alone, however, do not determine the value of assets, turnover or a loss claim.
Egyptian Star’s commercial registration, extracted on 27 September 2021 and obtained by Zawia3, identifies it as a joint-stock company established on 1 September 2015 for twenty-five years, ending 31 August 2040. Its registration number is 6280, from the Ismailia investment registry.
The registered address is 922, First District, Group 5, beside El Safwa Hospital in 6 October City. Samar Hamdy Mohamed Mahmoud is chair and managing director, with broad sole-signature powers over contracts, banking, employees and agents.
Other board members include Ahmed El Sayed Ibrahim El Husseiny, Mahmoud El Sayed Ibrahim El Husseiny, Aya Ashraf Abu Muslim Tohamy and Reda Abdel Karim, also identified as a managing director.
At incorporation, authorised capital was EGP 2.5 million and issued capital EGP 250,000, of which EGP 25,000 was paid. Later increases brought authorised capital to EGP 11.5 million, issued capital to EGP 1.15 million and paid capital to EGP 340,000 in 2019.
Activities include import-export, commercial agencies, general trade, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, public supplies, logistics, licensed exhibitions, property investment, equipment rental, ready-mix concrete, contracting and land reclamation. Branches include an administrative office in Cairo, Ismailia and an agricultural branch in Banha.
Why El Mekawy became the opposing party
El Sayed Abdel Moaty Abdel Halim El Mekawy chairs El Mekawy Automotive, or M Auto. Reporting indicates that the group acquired a Foton passenger and commercial-vehicle factory in 6 October in 2021 and opened an automotive showroom complex in Nasr City in 2022.
In November 2024, the business contracted to buy fifty feddans in Sheikh Zayed for EGP 2 billion. Media reports quoted plans for a joint development incorporating commercial, administrative and hotel components, with investment exceeding EGP 50 billion.
That month, El Mekawy appeared with Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir at the opening of the Proton Saga factory. Attendees included Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian ministers, Hisham Ezz El Arab of Ezz El Arab–El Sewedy Automotive and Proton chairman Syed Faisal Albar.
Contacted by telephone, El Mekawy denied knowledge of the allegations or a connection with Egyptian Star, saying the group’s legal affairs department handled such cases. He promised a documented response through its legal director.
Yasser Zaher, lawyer for El Mekawy Automotive Group and El Mekawy Construction and Development, says the construction company initially supplied Sun Capital with concrete-production materials. When Egyptian Star failed to meet obligations, he says, Sun City sought another contractor.
Zaher describes Egyptian Star’s contract as lasting no more than six months and allowing Sun City to dispense with it at any time. He says Sun City assigned the work to El Mekawy after default, making the replacement the first source of conflict.
The second, he says, concerned Modern Building’s equipment, which later passed to El Mekawy through settlements arising from substantial financial dealings.
“We submitted documents to the prosecution proving ownership of the entire concrete plant and its transfer to El Sayed El Mekawy,” Zaher says. He says complaints were closed or ended in acquittals, while Egyptian Star continued to claim the machinery.
Zaher says his clients lent funds to Egyptian Star against cheques signed by El Husseiny and Hamdy because it lacked sufficient financing. After repeated repayment demands, he says, judgments were obtained against both. El Husseiny was arrested and served part of his sentence.
He says El Mekawy later settled with Hamdy, waived proceedings to secure El Husseiny’s release and received a settlement power of attorney. Hamdy published an apology on the company’s Facebook page.
Zaher alleges the company then renewed attacks, deleted its apology posts and later resumed accusations through Abdel Karim. He characterises the campaign as defamation and attempted extortion, says the group answered an Administrative Control Authority complaint with documents, and claims Abdel Karim had no purchase invoice proving ownership.
He says he filed a cybercrime-police complaint against Abdel Karim. These allegations are Zaher’s account; they are not findings made here.
A signed settlement and apology undertaking
Zawia3 examined a declaration and settlement signed on 10 February 2024 by Samar Hamdy as Egyptian Star’s chair and managing director. It addresses El Sayed Abdel Moaty Abdel Halim El Mekawy personally and as chair of his construction, automotive, M Auto and El Wahab automotive companies.
The document states that she received all the company’s financial entitlements, papers, documents and rights and that neither she nor Egyptian Star retained a claim against him or those businesses. It releases him from present or future claims, known or unknown.
Hamdy also undertakes to withdraw or settle earlier cases, provide powers of attorney to end proceedings, and apologise on Egyptian Star’s Facebook and other social-media pages for insults and allegations. The declaration states that it was signed with full consent and is final and not subject to withdrawal or objection.
The prosecution’s findings in the equipment-theft case
Zawia3 reviewed the prosecution memorandum in case 6926/2019, Third October misdemeanours. Egyptian Star’s lawyer had accused Sun City, Modern Building and El Mekawy Contracting of stealing equipment from Sun Capital.
According to the memorandum, Egyptian Star contracted with Sun City to establish a concrete plant for a term ending in March 2019, then subcontracted performance to Modern Building. After expiry, Egyptian Star was barred from the site and Sun City appointed El Mekawy, which again used Modern Building.
Modern Building’s legal representative denied theft and pointed to contractual provisions establishing his company’s equipment ownership. He said Egyptian Star could not execute the work alone technically or financially.
Other witnesses, including a concrete sales manager and Sun City representative, supported that account. Sun City submitted a document recording Egyptian Star’s receipt of all entitlements and relinquishment of the plant in El Mekawy’s favour.
Egyptian Star acknowledged the documents and contracts, while claiming the relinquishment was signed in hope of later recovering the equipment. Police inquiries supported the account that Modern Building owned the machinery and operated it before and after El Mekawy replaced the complainant.
The prosecution concluded that the facts did not establish theft: equipment had been present under contract at the project site, rather than secretly taken without delivery. It also found the elements of breach of trust absent, with no proven entrustment by Egyptian Star and no established ownership by the complainant.
The memorandum recommended excluding criminal suspicion, cancelling the misdemeanour registration, recording the papers administratively and closing them. Senior prosecutor Abdel Magid El Qassas approved that disposition on 9 January 2021.
That finding concerns the specific site-equipment complaint. It should not be confused with the separate Alexandria customs-forgery proceedings described earlier.
The public campaign presents a conflict between an investor with foreign nationality and influential local businessmen. The contracts, settlement and prosecution memorandum reveal a more complex commercial dispute, including competing ownership claims, financial difficulties and later waivers.
Abdel Karim’s serious allegations must be weighed against those records and the responses from the other parties. In the equipment-theft case reviewed, the prosecution found no criminal suspicion. The broader dispute illustrates how commercial conflicts can be reframed through media campaigns and claims of political influence, leaving questions about economic justice and accountability.
