SA Raids MTN Over Allegations Of Bribery In Iran

The Hawks raided the offices of top law firm Webber Wentzel and cellphone service provider MTN last week. The offices of mobile carrier MTN were raided by the Hawks because of the investigation into the conflict between MTN and Turkcell.

In a Fin24 article, the spokesman for the Hawks Hangwani Mulaudzi said that the raids took place on Friday and they seized documents and equipment from MTN and it’s law firms.

“The Hawks serious corruption investigation, and the priority crime and specialized investigation units conducted a search and seizure operation at MTN and Webber Wentzel attorneys last week Friday on allegations of foreign bribery,” Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told Fin24.

MTN has called Turkcell’s claim “an abuse of the process of the Court” and said the allegations are baseless and without merit.

“When the allegations made by Turkcell were first raised, MTN appointed an Independent Special Committee under the Chairmanship of the eminent international jurist, Lord Leonard Hoffmann, to investigate the allegations. Lord Hoffmann embarked upon a thorough and exhaustive analysis of the investigations. He found that Turkcell’s allegations, which rested entirely upon the evidence of one Mr Christian Kilowan, were all ‘a fabric of lies, distortions and inventions’; and that Mr Kilowan was shown to be ‘a fantasist and a conspiracy theorist’,” MTN said in a statement.

Last year, MTN filed court papers to have the R59-billion claim dismissed.