{"id":9541,"date":"2012-04-02T03:45:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T01:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/04\/update-1-mtn-former-ceo-denies-bribes-to-iran-s-africa\/"},"modified":"2012-04-02T03:45:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T01:45:26","slug":"update-1-mtn-former-ceo-denies-bribes-to-iran-s-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-mtn-former-ceo-denies-bribes-to-iran-s-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-MTN former CEO denies bribes to Iran, S.Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

* Former CEO says no bribes to Iran, S.Africa<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

* MTN being sued by rival Turkcell over Iran<\/p>\n

(Adds details, comment from statement)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

JOHANNESBURG, April 1<\/span> (Reuters) – The former chief executive
\nof MTN Group denied on Sunday that he authorised bribes
\nto Iranian and South African government officials in return for
\na cellular licence in Iran.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can state quite categorically that during my tenure as
\ngroup CEO of MTN no bribes were authorised or paid by the MTN
\nGroup to any South African or Iranian government officials to
\nsecure the mobile licence in Iran,” Phuthuma Nhleko said in a
\nstatement.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkish mobile operator Turkcell this week filed
\na $4.2 billion lawsuit against MTN in a U.S. federal court,
\naccusing it of using bribery and other corrupt acts to win its
\nlicence in Iran in 2004.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Nhleko, who was then the CEO of MTN, is named in the suit,
\nas well as current CEO Sifiso Dabengwa, who was then the chief
\noperating officer.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The suit also charges that MTN lobbied the South African
\ngovernment to take a soft stance on Iran’s nuclear programme and
\nprovide Tehran with military equipment in exchange for the
\nlicence, which was initially awarded to Turkcell.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

MTN has said the case is without legal merit, while Pretoria
\nhas said its foreign policy is independent.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“MTN’s conduct was not unlawful or corrupt and MTN was
\ncertainly not in a position where it could influence or fetter
\nthe decisions made by the South African government or any other
\nsovereign state,” Nhleko said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

MTN has set up an independent committee led by a UK legal
\nscholar to investigate Turkcell’s claims. It has said Turkcell
\nhas refused to cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

MTN has a 49 percent stake in Iranian unit Irancell, which
\naccounts for nearly 10 percent of its annual revenue. \t<\/p>\n

(Reporting by David Dolan, editing by Ed Stoddard)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* Former CEO says no bribes to Iran, S.Africa * MTN being sued by rival Turkcell over Iran (Adds details, comment from statement) JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) – The former chief executive of MTN Group denied on Sunday that he authorised bribes to Iranian and South African government officials in return for a cellular licence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-9541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}