Turkcell Intends to Appeal South African Court’s Decision in MTN Case
07 Diciembre 2022 - 4:15AM
Business Wire
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) (BIST: TCELL) received a decision from the
South Gauteng High Court of South Africa stating that Iranian law
should be applied to the merits of the dispute and that the Iranian
courts have jurisdiction and not the South African courts. Turkcell
intends to appeal this decision.
“We are surprised and disappointed with the Court’s decision
preventing a South African company’s illegal acts to be subjected
to a trial in South Africa” said Serhat Demir, Vice President of
Legal and Regulation of Turkcell. He added “We are of the
opinion that, in the lawsuit, which has been ongoing for almost 10
years regarding the damage caused by MTN by changing the outcome of
the tender through bribery and corruption and by illegally
interfering license agreement signed with Iran, South African law
should be applied and the South African courts should also have
jurisdiction over the matter. South Africa is where MTN's
headquarter is located and where unlawful acts were planned and
took place.”
Serhat Demir also indicated that; as the judicial body of
a democratic country, South African Court identifying the dispute
as arising from the acts of foreign countries and its decision that
Iranian courts have competence can be criticized in respect to the
effectiveness of South African judiciary system and bears the risk
of excluding illegal acts that take place in South Africa from
judicial review. In this respect, he expressed that this decision
would damage the trust in South Africa’s independent judiciary
system and would have an adverse effect on the foreign investors of
South African companies, and he is hopeful for the reverse of this
decision.
About Turkcell’s lawsuit against MTN
On 26 November 2013, Turkcell announced that the Company filed a
lawsuit before the South Gauteng High Court of South Africa in
Johannesburg against, South African mobile operator MTN and its
group companies, as well as former company executives, demanding
compensation for the damages incurred by Turkcell during the GSM
tender process in Iran. In the lawsuit, which was prolonged as a
result of various procedural objections by the defendants, the
initial objections of the defendants were rejected and on 1 June
2017, it was announced that the lawsuit was going to be examined on
the merits.
After the interim hearing on the separated issues, the Court in
its latest decision, evaluated the objection made by the defendants
regarding the jurisdiction and determination of the applicable law,
and decided that Iranian law should be applied to the merits of the
dispute and that the Iranian courts have jurisdiction and not the
South African courts. This is on the ground that the acts of
foreign states cannot be subjected to a trial in South Africa.
Turkcell will continue to enforce all its legal rights against
this decision including an appeal of the decision and will strongly
and decisively continue to defend its rights for both compensation
of the damages incurred and also to ensure that the relevant
executives of MTN are held accountable and punished for their acts
of corruption and bribery which will emerge into the daylight as a
result the investigations being conducted by South African
authorities.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221207005415/en/
Contact Information: Turkcell Corporate Communications
Ebru Erbek Filizfidanoğlu ebru.erbek@turkcell.com.tr
Turkcell lletism Hizmetl... (NYSE:TKC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2024 a May 2024
Turkcell lletism Hizmetl... (NYSE:TKC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De May 2023 a May 2024