{"id":4827,"date":"2025-05-01T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/mtn-faces-setback-as-south-african-court-greenlights-iran-bribery-case\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T17:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:16:17","slug":"mtn-faces-setback-as-south-african-court-greenlights-iran-bribery-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/mtn-faces-setback-as-south-african-court-greenlights-iran-bribery-case\/","title":{"rendered":"MTN faces setback as South African Court greenlights Iran bribery case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><\/figure>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s highest appeal court has ruled that a Turkish telecoms group claiming MTN bribed Iranian officials for a lucrative mobile phone licence may proceed with its case.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court of Appeal has overturned a 2022 High Court ruling that dismissed Turkcell and its subsidiary, East Asian Consortium\u2019s, $4.2 billion damages claim.<\/p>\n<p>MTN, which has consistently maintained that the Turkish mobile phone operator\u2019s allegations are without merit, has announced its intention to appeal to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n<p>The legal battle between the two companies dates back to the early 2000s, when MTN and Turkcell competed for a telecommunications licence in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The licence was awarded to Irancell, a consortium in which MTN holds a 49 per cent stake. Turkcell has long alleged that the African telecoms group, headquartered in Johannesburg, engaged in bribery and improper dealings to secure the licence\u2014claims that have been consistently denied.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute has played out in multiple jurisdictions. Turkcell initially filed a lawsuit in the United States but later withdrew the case and pursued legal action in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, Turkcell and its subsidiary, East Asian Consortium (EAC), sued MTN in the High Court of South Africa, seeking billions in damages for lost business opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>The case was initially dismissed in 2022, when the court ruled that South African courts did not have jurisdiction. This week\u2019s decision has overturned that ruling.<\/p>\n<p>MTN has reiterated that the Turkish mobile phone operator\u2019s allegations are without merit and has confirmed its intention to appeal to South Africa\u2019s highest court, the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Strategic MTN partners at risk\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This week, a US terrorism law expert warned that MTN\u2019s strategic partners could face legal challenges under the United States Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), potentially carrying serious implications for those partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Jeffrey Breinholt, a former senior official at the US Department of Justice, argued that MTN\u2019s partners \u2014 including reputable firms such as Deloitte and Accenture \u2014 may come under legal scrutiny if the telecoms company\u2019s involvement in operations in Iran is deemed substantial.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe title=\"MTN\u2019s US terrorism lawsuits may put Accenture and Deloitte at risk - Prof Jeffrey Breinholt\" width=\"801\" height=\"451\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F8g1-NdUTkM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The MTN Group has also been scrutinised for the quality of its disclosure regarding US terrorism litigation in its latest annual financial statements.<\/p>\n<p>In statements released this year, MTN described the five ATA cases in the US as having been assessed as \u2018remote\u2019; therefore, no contingent liabilities were disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by the Appeal Court has prompted further scrutiny of MTN Chair Mcebisi Jonas, who was selected by President Cyril Ramaphosa to serve as a new envoy to Washington. Given the renewed attention on MTN\u2019s connections to Irancell, questions have arisen about his suitability for the position.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s highest appeal court has ruled that a Turkish telecoms group claiming MTN bribed Iranian officials for a lucrative mobile phone licence may proceed with its case. The Supreme Court of Appeal has overturned a 2022 High Court ruling that dismissed Turkcell and its subsidiary, East Asian Consortium\u2019s, $4.2 billion damages claim. MTN, which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4830,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions\/4830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}