Telecommunications group MTN has asked a US court to terminate the case filed against it in December over a complaint for violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on December 27 on behalf of American service members and civilians who were killed or wounded in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2017, and on behalf of their families.
“The complaint alleges that several Western businesses supported the Taliban by, inter alia, making payments to ensure the protection of their infrastructure,” MTN said in a statement on April 30, noting that six different groups of affiliated companies, including MTN Group and certain of its subsidiary companies such as MTN Afghanistan, were named by the defendants in the complaint.
“MTN has deep sympathy for those who have been injured or lost loved ones as a result of the tragic conflict in Afghanistan. As stated in the motion to dismiss, however, the MTN defendants are not the extremists that caused plaintiffs’ tragic losses and injuries,” it stated.
In a motion to dismiss, a formal written document submitted to the US court by MTN’s legal counsel, MTN requested the court to end the lawsuit and grant a judgment in MTN’s favour for two independent reasons.
These included a lack of jurisdiction by the court over MTN, which does not operate in the US, and the complaint not alleging any conduct by MTN that would have violated the Anti-Terrorism Act.
“To the contrary, MTN Afghanistan has been lauded by the World Bank for expanding telecommunications services to the impoverished people of Afghanistan and has itself been a target of violence in the devastating conflict in that war-torn country.”
“Put simply, plaintiffs have sued the wrong defendants in the wrong court based on insufficient allegations.”
Under US law and procedures, MTN is not permitted at this stage of the lawsuit to challenge or contest the factual allegations made against the company, so the motion to dismiss focuses on the lack of jurisdiction and the legal insufficiency of the claims.
“MTN remains of the view that 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,” the company concluded.