MTN Group emerged victorius in a R73 billion lawsuit initaited 10 yeears ago by Turkish operator Turkcell.
Turkcell and East Asian Consortium, or EAC had initiated action against it and certain of its subsidiaries in 2013, seeking damages over allegations of impropriety in the award of the first private mobile telecommunications license in Iran.
In 2020, Turkcell withdrew as a plaintiff, leaving EAC as sole plaintiff. The court dismissed the action without costs on Wednesday, ending the litigation.
“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 statement.
“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.”
Initially, Turkcell allegeed that MTN used bribery and wrongful influence to win a lucrative Iran license originally awarded to it.
At the time, MTN rejected the allegations, reiterating its stance that the lawsuit had “no legal merit”.
Turkcell first brought the suit against MTN in the United States in 2012. A year later it withdrew the U.S. suit and filed in South Africa