Victory for MTN in R73-billion lawsuit
The High Court has dismissed an application by one of MTN’s former rivals in Iran seeking $4.2 billion in damages, excluding interest.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S, and Turkcell’s wholly owned subsidiary, East Asian Consortium B.V. (EAC), instituted legal action in the High Court of South Africa against MTN Group and certain of its subsidiaries in 2013.
Turkcell’s application to the South African courts came after it first tried to sue MTN in Washington, D.C. in the United States.
The battle between the companies centres around a tender for cellular network operating licences in Iran that dates back to 2004.
Turkcell said it was the winning bidder for the Iranian licence in 2004, with MTN coming second.
However, MTN subsequently operated Iran’s first private cellphone network as MTN Irancell.
Turkcell claimed that MTN bribed officials, arranged meetings for Iran with South African leaders, and promised Iran weapons and United Nations votes in exchange for a stake in Irancell.
Turkcell withdrew from the legal action in November 2020, leaving EAC as the sole plaintiff against MTN.
“In a judgment handed down by the High Court of South Africa on 30 November 2022, EAC’s action against MTN has been dismissed with costs, putting an end to the Turkcell litigation,” MTN said in a notice to shareholders on Thursday.
“MTN is delighted at the outcome as it has consistently maintained that the Turkcell litigation was without merit. MTN had no provisions or contingent liabilities with regards to the Turkcell litigation.”
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