$4 billion legal battle between Turkcell & MTN over “bribes” to Iran

A Supreme Court of Appeal judgment is expected soon in the appeal of a Gauteng High Court decision that South Africans alleged to have bribed foreign government officials are immune from prosecution in South Africa. That court decision is part of an ongoing case between Turkcell and MTN in connection with a GSM license in Iran. In this interview with BizNews, Turkcell’s global counsel Cedric Soule, details allegations of bribery and corruption against MTN to overturn a public tender that it lost for a multi-billion-dollar opportunity to run the Iranian GSM telecom license. “MTN, not happy with having been a runner up, decides to meddle and inserts itself in these negotiations by secretly talking to the Iranian authorities, promising all kinds of things. We say they promised weapons, sort of introductions to weapons companies. They promised to lobby the South African government so that the South African government would take a different position on Iran's nuclear program. And we also allege that MTN paid Iranian and South African authorities bribes... So the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal that we're expecting has pretty serious implications, we believe, because it will, we think, set the stage for how bribery and corruption are dealt with in South Africa for years to come.” Turkcell is seeking $4 billion in damages.