The Uzans Owe Jordan Telecom US$7 Million
Jordan Telecom has filed charges of fraud, with damages amounting to US$7 million, against the Uzans in an Amman Court. Court records list Hakan Uzan as a Jordanian citizen.
Established in 1997 by Hakan Uzan, Jordan for Public Services Telephone company had received a contract from Jordan Telecommunication General Management for the installation of phone booths in public streets.
The Uzans owe Jordan Telecom nearly seven million dollars for telephone tools and telephone cards. At first, paying the debts regularly, the company failed to pay later. It declared bankruptcy in 2001. Unable to collect the debt from the Uzans, Jordan Telecom filed a lawsuit against the Uzans by applying to the Amman Court August 30, 2001.
This is the fourth case against the Uzans involving foreign telecommunications companies. Others are Motorola, Nokia, and Kazakhstan Telecom. It was reported that Jordan Telecom is preparing to apply to Turkish courts in order to collect from the Uzan family.
The Uzans’s Jordan adventure began in 1996. Hakan Uzan founded a company named Alfa in Jordan on September 3rd, 1996. The company with US$31,609,000 of capital was registered at the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Raad Gazi Al Rifai and Huseyin Gazi Al Rifai, from a prominent Jordanian family, were partners of the company. The Turkish partner of the new company was recorded as the Uzan’s Rumeli Telecom Co.
Nine months later the Uzans founded a second company, the Jordan for Public Services Telephone company. Alfa International and Rumeli International were partners of that company founded on May 29, 1997.
