MTN wants long-running Turkcell lawsuit dropped
The telecoms giant insists Turkish firm’s damages claim has already been settled in other legal forums outside SA
MTN Group, facing the prospect of a damages claim from rival Turkcell more than four times the size of the $1bn (R14.4bn) settlement it reached last year with Nigerian authorities, is hoping the case will be thrown out by the High Court in Johannesburg on its merits before it is even heard. The JSE-listed mobile telecommunications group has moved to have the matter, in which the Istanbul-headquartered Turkcell is seeking damages of $4.2bn (about R59bn), thrown out on technical legal grounds. However, if the court decides to reject these “special pleas”, MTN will “absolutely not” be seeking an out-of-court settlement, the group’s chief legal officer, Michael Fleischer, said in an interview with Business Day, as it believes its defence is rock-solid.
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