The MTN Group and the MTN Ghana have responded to recent accusations of shipping hundreds of millions of dollars out of poor African countries into tax havens while paying fewer taxes.
Investigations by a group of journalists across Africa revealed MTN Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda in particular, have been shipping part of their revenue before tax regularly to MTN Dubai supposedly to pay for management services and technology transfer.
But the moneys are often further shipped from Dubai to tax haven Mauritius (where MTN does not have a single staff) to avoid tax.
MTN Group and its operations in the respective countries did not deny shipping out moneys from poor countries but rationalized the shipment as legitimate payments for technology transfer and management fees, which were all agreed upon with the appropriate authorities in the respective countries.
In Ghana, the approval was given by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). MTN Ghana was said to have shipped GH 758 MILLION, which is almost 10% of its revenue between 2008 and 2013.
This was the highest percentage of shipment compared to less than two percent of transfers from MTN Nigeria and four per cent from Uganda.
A Thabo Mbeki committee has described such huge transfers by multinationals out of poor African countries as “illicit” and “unethical”.
But the telecoms giant insists all is well and good because they neither broke any regulations/laws nor did they breach any of the legitimate agreements they had with state authorities prior to the transfers.
Below is a full statement on the MTN Group website
MTN Group Response MTN complies with all regulations and laws, including tax laws, in the countries where we operate, which include South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana. Regulatory matters in our markets are addressed directly with local authorities when required, and where applicable, duly reported in our Annual Financial Statements, as per our JSE listing requirements. Owing to the evolving nature of our business operations and compliance frameworks in our markets, MTN continually engages authorities to find mutually agreeable ways to meet our obligations. Where the relevant authorities may have queries, MTN has always been accessible to engage on such matters. At no point has MTN ever been found to be involved in any scheme that seeks to help the company evade its tax or legal responsibilities in any jurisdiction where we operate.
Source: myjoyonline