By Saabira Chaudhuri
An Egyptian court Thursday acquitted J Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN)
Chief Executive Mike Coupe of all charges in connection with a case
involving a dispute with a local businessman in Egypt.
The conviction was tied to allegations made by Amr Amin Hamza El
Nasharty, who headed a company called Egyptian Distribution Group,
or Edge, with which Sainsbury's did business.
According to a Sainsbury's statement in April, Mr. El Nasharty
maintained that Mr. Coupe flew to Egypt in July of last year and
seized bounced checks out of a bankruptcy file in the country. Mr.
El Nasharty had said he was pressured into buying back shares of
Edge, which in 1999 Sainsbury's had bought an 80% stake in, and
that he did so using postdated checks which later bounced.
Mr. Coupe, who in April appeared in a court in Giza, Egypt, to
appeal a September conviction made in his absence, was acquitted of
"all charges brought against him as a representative of the
company" according to a regulatory filing on Thursday
afternoon.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at Saabira.Chaudhuri@wsj.com
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