{"id":9260,"date":"2012-04-10T00:03:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T22:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=9260"},"modified":"2012-04-10T12:28:46","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T10:28:46","slug":"turkcell-files-100m-defamation-case-against-mtn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/9260\/turkcell-files-100m-defamation-case-against-mtn\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkcell files $100m defamation case against MTN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkcell<\/a> has filed a defamation case against SA mobile operator, MTN Group (MTN)<\/a>, accusing the firm of making false statements.<\/p>\n

The above filing is part of a wider complaint filed by the Turkish-based telecoms firm in the US District Court of Columbia, Washington DC, on March 28, demanding $4.2 billion in damages over the award of the cellular licence in Iran in 2004.<\/p>\n

TurkCell claims that MTN used political and monetary lures to enhance its relationships and leverage its position within Iran. \u201cMTN undertook to eliminate TurkCell and take over [the license for itself], by bribing the Iranian government with promises of nuclear votes, defense equipment, and outright cash payments,\u201d a portion of the complaint read.<\/p>\n

In a press release following the court application titled: \u201cMTN denounces Turkcell\u2019s extortionate litigation threat,\u201d MTN said it strongly condemned Turkcell\u2019s attempt to use the threat of a US legal claim to extort money from the group.<\/p>\n

Within the text of Turkcell\u2019s claim against MTN, the Turkish telecoms firm said: \u201cMTN’s March 12, 2012 press release knowingly, and intentionally, accused Turkcell of making an “extortionate litigation threat” and of refusing to cooperate with the independent investigation that MTN has set up.”<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of these statements are false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkcell said that, at the time it issued the press release, MTN knew its accusations of extortion and refusal to cooperate to be false.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN’s statements are defamatory per se in the District of Columbia, because they are false criminal charges and directly attack Turkcell’s reputation for ethical business practices and honesty,\u201d the text read.<\/p>\n

Turkcell noted that the press release was published throughout worldwide media distribution channels, including within the US. Social media outlets reprinted the extortion falsehood. Twitter feeds show that, within two days of the press release, the claim of extortion was republished over 70 times worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN knew, anticipated, foresaw, and intended that its press release would be distributed and read throughout the United States, including in the District of Columbia, and damage Turkcell. MTN knew, anticipated, foresaw, and intended that its press release would negatively impact Turkcell’s stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange and elsewhere,\u201d the complaint stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefamation per se is actionable without proof of special damages. Regardless, Turkcell has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm to its reputation as a result of MTN’s defamatory statements in an amount to be proven at trial but no less than $100 million.”<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN defamed Turkcell with ill will, recklessly, wantonly, oppressively, in willful disregard of Turkcell’s rights, and in a manner tending to aggravate Turkcell’s injury. Punitive damages should, therefore, be awarded to Turkcell reflecting the egregiousness of MTN’s actions,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

MTN said that talks between it and Turkcell had broken down \u201cas a result of Turkcell\u2019s extortionate demands for damages and their threat to start a frivolous lawsuit in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkcell\u2019s threat to abuse the US legal system to pressure MTN will not succeed,\u201d said an MTN spokesman.\u00a0 \u201cTurkcell\u2019s accusations involve conduct alleged to have taken place in South Africa and Iran, and have no connection to the United States,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

MTN added that it is committed to resolving the issue through Lord Hoffmann\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

MTN, The Fish, and Project Snooker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Volatile MTN still good value say analysts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Why Turkcell is filing MTN lawsuit in the US<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Iran \u2018puts the screws\u2019 on MTN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkcell has filed a defamation case against SA mobile operator MTN Group (MTN), accusing the firm of making false statements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":8984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2256,26,1931,28,1292],"class_list":["post-9260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-defamation","tag-headline","tag-lord-hoffmann","tag-mtn","tag-turkcell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9260"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9352,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions\/9352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}