EVCON CASE – CEVITAL CLARIFICATIONS

The trial of Issad Rebrab, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cevital Group, scheduled for December 25^th then referred to the 31^st of the current month, has raised a number of understandable apprehensions that compel us to bring some useful clarifying information to the public opinion, in relation to the unsubstantiated accusations brought against him with EvCon Industry.

Cevital and its 27 subsidiary corporations had never used overcharging, forgery or forged documents. These practices are banned in our books and inconsistent with our core values enshrined in our charter. Our first rule consists on the constant reinvestment of our profits which are mainly the result of thorough negotiations of our purchase operations of equipment and raw materials.

At Cevital, we are convinced that companies shall be a tool at the service of the economic development of a country and not a mean to drain its wealth. And this fundamental belief was the reason behind considering, through our subsidiary EvCon Industry, a major and innovative project in Algeria.

This project consists in two centres for the manufacture of 3^rd generation hydrophobic membranes, covered by 189 patents and using a disruptive and revolutionary technology. These membranes are intended to be placed at production plants of ultrapure water for pharmaceutical industry, semiconductors industry and agro-food industry. They shall be also used in chemical industry stations for used water treatment, in oil and gas industry and in seawater desalination plants.

Since, the equipment intended to manufacture these membranes do not exist anywhere in the world, it was necessary to conceive and implement specific manufacturing plants, which are thus prototypes.

In order to create those fully automatic plants equipped with artificial intelligence, a consortium has been called upon, comprising 8 world-renowned companies: 3 German companies, an Austrian subsidiary of a South Korean company, 2 Italian companies, a Swiss company and an American company. All these companies have worked in close collaboration with our Research and Development Centre EvCon Technology, based in Munich, Germany.

It was therefore, in the context of this unprecedented technologic project, that we have imported in June 2018 five (05) injection molding machines type DL 1300 A5 and type DL 2300 A5, interconnected with the other installations of the production plant to be implemented in Larbaa, Blida. These machines are prototypes designed exclusively and solely for EvCon Industry, owned with their proper funds without any bank financing.

Among these imported machines, there are two machines for frame membranes type DL 1300 A5. They are designed to receive a double-print mold of 17 tons with 10 simultaneous injection points and present unprecedented technical characteristics that cannot be found in any other molding machine in the world. These machines have been ordered from Woojin Austria, the subsidiary of Woojin South Korea, based in Europe, in charge of research and development.

It was this Europe based subsidiary for research and development of Woojin South Korea, which handled all the design work for these prototypes and ensured the coordination with the other companies involved in the manufacturing process of our production plants.

The customs services have wrongfully considered that this import operation is tainted by false declaration on the machines value and state.

Cevital group totally refutes these accusations, and we will not refrain from bringing before the justice all supporting documents and proofs in order to elicit the truth and restore the innocence of Issad Rebrab and of EvCon Industry.

In fact, this is another scheme orchestrated and incited by former regime elements, who have instrumentalised some State officials in order to block Cevital and harm its director, whose only interest is the economic development of his country.

Today, we renew our confidence in the justice of our country to restore the truth.

As the leading non-hydrocarbons exporter, the top private employer and the major contributor to the national budget after Sonatrach, Issad Rebrab and Cevital remain attached to their sole and unique immutable commitment, the one of participating in the development of Algeria.