MTN, South African telecoms company, has said it is reviewing allegations raised against it and several other firms in the United States of paying protection money to militant Islamist groups in Afghanistan.
The complaint was filed in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia on Friday, Reuters reported.
The accused firms were said to have violated the United States Anti-Terrorism Act by paying protection money to al Qaeda and the Taliban, thereby providing material support to known terrorist organisations.
It sought damages on behalf of the United States military members and civilians killed or wounded in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2017.
“MTN is reviewing the details of the report and is consulting its advisers but remains of the view that it conducts its business in a responsible and compliant manner in all its territories,” the telecom company said in a statement to Reuters.
However, the United Kingdom security services company, G4S, which was also named in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
The complaint follows investigations by a group of large Washington-based law firms, which claimed that some firms provided “material support” to known terrorists leading to numerous US injuries and deaths, according to a statement by the law firms involved.
Nompilo Morafo, MTN spokeswoman, said the company could not yet respond directly to the specific allegations in the report as it was still going through the details.
“We cannot comment further than what we’ve said in the statement. We want a chance to review the allegations. We only received the suit on Friday and we’re still going through it. I also can’t confirm how long it’s going to take,” Morafo said.
MTN is the leading telecom operator in Nigeria with over 65 million subscribers and Africa’s largest mobile operator with 243.7 million subscribers.
The company had in the past faced disputes over unregistered SIM cards, tax and dividend repatriation in Nigeria where it paid huge fines to the Nigerian government.
