MTN Reviewing Allegations After Being Named in U.S. Complaint

South African telecoms firm MTN on Monday said it was reviewing allegations raised in a U.S. complaint which accuses several firms 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.

It alleges the firms violated the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act by paying protection money to al Qaeda and the Taliban, thereby providing material support to known terrorist organizations.

It seeks damages on behalf of U.S. military members and civilians killed or wounded in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2017.

FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS ....................................................................................................... 13
I. IN THE WAKE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS, THE AL-QAEDABACKED
AFGHAN TALIBAN LAUNCHED A DEADLY TERRORIST
CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICANS IN AFGHANISTAN ................................. 13
II. DEFENDANTS KNOWINGLY OR RECKLESSLY FINANCED
TERRORISM BY PAYING PROTECTION MONEY TO THE TALIBAN ............ 16
A. Defendants Operated In A Corrupt Afghan Contracting Environment That
Encouraged Protection Payments ......................................................................... 17
B. Western Contractors Commonly Structured Their Operations In
Afghanistan To Funnel Protection Payments To The Taliban.............................. 21
III. DEFENDANTS KNEW OR RECKLESSLY DISREGARDED THAT THEIR
PAYMENTS FINANCED TALIBAN ATTACKS ON AMERICANS .................... 35
A. Defendants’ Protection Payments Directly Funded The Taliban’s Terrorist
Campaign Against Americans In Afghanistan ..................................................... 35
B. Defendants Knew Or Recklessly Disregarded That Their Payments
Financed Anti-American Terrorism ...................................................................... 40
C. The U.S. Government Opposed Defendants’ Payment Of Protection
Money To The Taliban ......................................................................................... 51
IV. EACH DEFENDANT MADE PROTECTION PAYMENTS THAT IT
KNEW OR RECKLESSLY DISREGARDED WOULD BENEFIT THE
TALIBAN ............................................................................................................

(see more)

As I recall from looking into Joseph Wilson's business partners, the Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Alamoudi family--implicated in various terrorist activities--had links via their MIDROC conglomerate to African telecom firms that got involved in an African-wide telecom deal also involving the UN and the South African government during the tail end of the Clinton administration--think the main firm was probably Telkom (in partnership with Vodafone), which used to have a deal with MTN and is one of MTN's competitors in the South African market. The MTN Group was recently eyeing moving into Alamoudi's home turf in Ethiopia, following a Saudi corruption crackdown on the Alamoudis and the recent parole of Mohammed Alamoudi. Bonus trivia: the Alamoudi family is among the largest contributors to the Clinton Foundation.

The world’s two largest cruise line corps, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Carnival Corp (between them they own just about every cruise line you can name) both used MTN until 2012 - then they both left and went with Harris Corporation and O3B, two different near-earth satellite services. This was for Internet access at sea, for the most part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Telecommunications_Network#Loss_of_Royal_Caribbean

I only mention it because the name rang a bell - Internet access on cruise ships is a big deal since they are at sea and it takes quite a bit of effort.

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