Emerging market telecom giant, MTN Group has said it will “vigorously defend” the recent lawsuit from Turkcell, arising from claims that MTN bribed its way through to clinch an operating license in 2005  for its Iranian subsidiary Irancell, which was initially awarded to the Turkish operator.

The latest attempt by Turkcell, issued out of the South Gauteng High Court this week, is coming over a year after Turkcell filed a $4.2 billion lawsuit against MTN in the USA in March 2012, accusing the company of bribing Iran officials and promising the Arab nation weapons and United Nations votes.

In its lawsuit, Turkcell invoked the Alien Tort Statute, a 1798 law, usually cited in human rights and torture cases, which gives US courts’ jurisdiction in some instances to consider claims by foreigners for illegal conduct that occurred in another country.

According to MTN, Turkcell’s US suit was dismissed in May this year, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on another case “significantly curtailed the reach and ambit of the Alien Tort Statute.”

However, Turkcell has stated that “the filing of the lawsuit in South Africa is in continuation of the legal process that was initiated in US courts.”

Turkcell, which is the leading telecoms company in Turkey, added that it “maintains its position regarding the merit of the case.”

The defendant also “maintains that it did not cause Turkcell to lose out on its obtaining a mobile licence in Iran.”  Turkcell’s “inability to procure the licence was as a result of its own failings, and not because of any impropriety by MTN,” MTN said.

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