Man Arrested Over Alleged Corrupt MTN Iran Deal Dies

It been reported that Yusuf Saloojee — the former South African ambassoder to Iran — has died, Saloojee is the same person who was involved in the MTN/Turkcell saga.

A comunnity journalist told News24:  “He passed away in the morning and his funeral will be at 19:30 this evening. I cannot at this stage reveal the circumstances surrounding his death,” Mohammed Choonara said.

The hawks arrested Saloojee in February on corruption charges related to the awarding of a cellphone licence to MTN after it had initially been given to Turkcell. The case has been the subject of legal claims for several years by the Turkish company, which accuses MTN of paying bribes to South African and Iranian officials to secure 49% of Irancell Telecommunications Services in 2005, which gave it a licence to operate in the country.

MTN has consistently denied that there’s any evidence that it gave Saloojee money. The company says the allegations appear to be based on the word of a single witness whose allegedly a disgruntled former employee of MTN.

Iran is MTN’s second-biggest market, with 44.5 million subscribers at the end of March. The country has been a thorn in the carrier’s side of late, as US-led sanctions prevent MTN from being able to repatriate funds from the nation.

The company is also facing legal claims in Nigeria, its biggest market, over the alleged non-payment of $2 billion of back taxes, while the head of MTN’s Uganda division was deported earlier Friday.