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MTN Iran corruption allegations under investigation by South Africa police
(Reuters) – South Africa’s elite Hawks police unit has opened an investigation into allegations of corruption at mobile phone giant MTN relating to its purchase of a cellular license in Iran, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.
The police probe follows a US$4.2 billion U.S. civil claim filed in March by Turkish operator Turkcell accusing Africa’s largest mobile firm of bribing Iranian officials with cash and promises of weapons to secure the license, which was originally awarded to Turkcell.
“There are allegations of corruption. That’s exactly what we’re investigating,” Hawks spokesman MacIntosh Polela said.
MTN executives were also accused in the U.S. court papers of promising to get Pretoria to vote favorably about Tehran’s nuclear program at international forums trying to curb Iran’s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.
MTN officials have denied any wrongdoing and described the Turkcell case, which is backed by a collection of alleged MTN internal documents including emails, invoices, memos and presentations, as without legal merit.
South Africa has also denied that its diplomacy is for sale.
An MTN spokesman declined immediate comment on the investigation by the Hawks, South Africa’s equivalent of the FBI in the United States.
