Turkish mobile operator Turkcell's $4.2 billion (R55 billion) lawsuit against the MTN group, over a disputed mobile licence in Iran, will be heard in the South Gauteng High Court after years of delays.
Turkcell first sued Johannesburg-based MTN in a US court in 2012, alleging that MTN unlawfully secured an Iranian GSM licence that had been won by Turkcell in 2004. It claims that MTN used bribery and corruption to overturn the initial Iranian decision so that the licence was awarded to Irancell, of which the MTN group owns 49%.
The case was later withdrawn from US courts and filed in South Africa 2013, where it has been caught up in legal wrangling as MTN continues to reject the allegations.
"MTN continues to believe that there is no legal merit to Turkcell's claim and will accordingly oppose it," MTN said in a statement this afternoon.
MTN says the lawsuit currently before the courts is not a new action and that "recent developments in the matter were procedural in nature and had nothing to do with the merits of the case".
Turkcell's legal and regulation executive VP, Serhat Demir, however believes the telco has a "very strong claim."
"We are delighted that the case is finally coming to trial in South Africa," Demir said in a statement. "Turkcell will be seeking the earliest possible trial date, and looks forward to vindicating its claims before the South African courts."
The $4.2 billion claim against MTN is calculated from the profits that Turkcell says it would have made had it operated the Irancell licence. Turkcell is also claiming interest on that amount, from 2005.
Iran is now MTN's second biggest market when looking at subscriber numbers, behind Nigeria.
The claim is made against the MTN group and various MTN companies, as well as Phuthuma Nhleko, MTN's non-executive chairman who was CEO at the time of the Irancell transaction, and former MTN director Irene Charnley.
Turkcell's claim was delayed by objections from MTN and Turkcell's responses to the objections, the company said, however on 5 May the High Court rejected another 29 objections from MTN, clearing the way for the case to go to trial.
Following the latest judgement Turkcell said MTN had until 30 May to apply for leave to appeal against the judgment, but did not do so. MTN now has 20 days to answer Turkcell's particulars of claim, after which the matter will move towards discovery and a trial date will be set.
The Turkcell group operates in nine countries - Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Northern Cyprus, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Moldova - and is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Borsa Istanbul (BIST).
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