MTN's former finance chief, Nazir Patel's, sudden resignation this week was the end result of him allegedly diverting money out of the operator's Iran business, flouting the company's procedures.
This is according to a Sunday Times report, which says the investigation around Patel, the reason given on Monday for his resignation, revolved around how he allegedly broke MTN's procedures by transferring its cash out of Iran through Dubai.
"Investigative teams in Dubai and Iran are understood to be scrutinising the case, and have handed a draft report to the board," says the Sunday paper.
With 46% market share, Iran is MTN's second largest market, after Nigeria. MTN holds a 49% stake in Iran's second cellphone operator, Irancell.
While full details around the investigations into Patel are still vague, The Sunday Times cites MTN's chief of human resources and corporate affairs, Paul Norman, as saying no illegal activity as such had been identified as yet.
"At this stage, there is no indication that money has gone missing, and it's not as if anything that happened was illegal or broke any international sanctions. It's just that there are certain governance issues that may not have been followed."
Norman is further quoted as saying MTN accepted Patel's resignation - despite the fact that an investigation was underway - so that there would be "no sense of a cloud of suspicion hanging around".
The paper says, over the last four years, MTN paid Patel over R37 million in salaries and bonuses alone. "Last year, for example, Patel was paid R13.8 million, including a R6.4 million bonus. The previous year, he made R14.7 million, and also cashed in shares worth R2.4 million."
The latest Iran-related news follows a protracted legal battle between MTN and Istanbul-based Turkcell, which accused MTN of employing underhanded tactics to acquire a GSM licence in Iran in 2004, and in March 2011 filed a $4.2 billion lawsuit against the operator.
In May Turkcell dropped the lawsuit, citing a recent US Supreme Court ruling that hurt its case.
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