MTN wants to flee Syria … after indirect control of Al-Assad’s wife

South African mobile phone group MTN said on Sunday it was still determined to negotiate the sale of its 75% stake in its Syrian unit for $ 65 million, although the activity was the subject of police custody last week.

A Damascus court had placed MTN Syria under surveillance on charges that MTN had violated the terms of the license agreement, which the state said deprived the government of revenue.

The group denies the charges and said on Friday it intended to appeal the decision.

The designated guard, who heads Telinvest, which owns a minority stake in MTN Syria, will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the unit as long as the custody order remains in effect. The court statement did not specify how long it would be effective.

Telinvest is seeking to buy out MTN Group’s 75% stake in MTN Syria at a previously undisclosed price.

A spokeswoman for the South African company told Reuters: “MTN Group remains committed to implementing the deal reached with Teleinvest to disengage from its 75% stake and loans totaling $ 65 million . “

The sale to TeleInvest is part of MTN’s plans to leave the Middle East in the medium term.

The group’s operations in the region have been marred by allegations that it paid a bribe to obtain a 15-year business license in Iran and aided militant groups in Afghanistan. MTN denies the allegations.

MTN Syria contributed 0.7% of the group’s core profits in the first six months of last year.

“Tele Invest Limited” is one of the major shareholders of MTN and owns a 25% stake in it, and to appoint it as judicial guard of the parent company MTN, came after direct intervention, or what a source describes as a “hidden move” from Assad’s wife, Asma, whom she previously named her relative, Nasreen Ibrahim, as representative of “Tele Invest Limited” within MTN.

It should be noted that the Syrian regime, two days before the verdict was handed down to impose judicial custody on MTN, to appoint a replacement for Nasreen Ibrahim, who “accomplished his mission to the fullest” for the Syrian regime, according to a source for Al -Arabiya.net In the emergency, of the MTN company, appointment of Mohamed Hamdoun, deputy of Nasreen Ibrahim, as representative of “Tele Invest Limited”.

And Nasreen Ibrahim is the sister of Yasar Ibrahim, a newly emerging businessman, in the environment of the Syrian regime, and he was the subject of US sanctions, months ago. Nisreen was known to be close to Asma, the wife of al-Assad, and she was appointed representative of Tele Invest Limited, shortly after the takeover by al-Assad of the largest cellular communications company in the country. country, Syriatel, held by her cousin, Rami Makhlouf, with the appointment of a judicial guard over him, in June. / Last June.