South Africa's MTN Group said Thursday it had asked a U.S. court to dismiss a case filed against it in December accusing the telecoms company of paying protection money to terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
It said in a statement its legal counsel had submitted a formal written request to the U.S. court to end the lawsuit and grant judgment in its favor.
"Put simply, plaintiffs have sued the wrong defendants in the wrong court based on insufficient allegations," MTN said.
It cited the reason being that "the court lacks jurisdiction over MTN, which does not operate in the United States, and because the complaint does not allege any conduct by MTN that would have violated the Anti-Terrorism Act."
Under U.S. law and procedures, MTN is not permitted at this stage of the lawsuit to challenge or contest the factual allegations made against the company, it said, adding that therefore the motion to dismiss focuses on the lack of jurisdiction and the legal insufficiency of the claims.
It alleges that several firms, including MTN Group and certain of its subsidiary companies such as MTN Afghanistan, violated the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act by paying protection money to al-Qaida and the Taliban, thereby providing material support to known terrorist organizations.
The complaint was filed in a Washington, D.C. court on Dec. 27, 2019, on behalf of American service members and civilians, as well as their families, who were killed or wounded in the Afghanistan conflict between 2009 and 2017.
“Defendants decided that buying off the terrorists was the most efficient way to operate their businesses while managing their own security risks – even though doing so jeopardized other American lives,” the lawsuit said.
“MTN requested the court to end the lawsuit and grant judgment in MTN’s favor for two independent reasons: because the court lacks jurisdiction over MTN, which does not operate in the US, and because the complaint does not allege any conduct by MTN that would have violated the Anti-Terrorism Act,” the group said in a statement early Thursday.
The multinational mobile telecommunications company said it conducts its business “in a responsible and compliant manner in all its territories and, as reflected in the motion to dismiss, intends to defend its position accordingly.”
MTN Group operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where it previously faced scrutiny over its Iranian operations.
In February last year, a former South African ambassador to Iran was arrested on charges that he took a bribe to help MTN win a $31.6 billion license to operate there. MTN has denied the allegations.
The company has also faced costly disputes over unregistered SIM cards, tax and dividend repatriation in Nigeria.
