The Ugandan authorities are back at it on the South African telecommunication company. The first offense the authorities have accused MTN is declaring its sales, the Second offense, causing public revenue losses.
This comes bearly a week since the CEO of MTN, Wim Vanhelleputte, was expelled from the country for claims that he was a threat to the national security of the country. Apparently this is not the first time MTN has locked horns with governments, the company also had problems in Nigeria where the central bank last year accused it of repatriating $8 billion without the correct paperwork. The row was later resolved after the company paid a token settlement.
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said scrutiny of MTN came after the government acquired the capacity to monitor telecom firms’ transactions for tax compliance and reporting purposes.
“It is as a result of that technical capacity that MTN and its officials have run afoul,” he said.
“They have been found that in some instances they have not been making full declarations of transactions which constitutes undermining Uganda’s economy.”
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly accused telecom firms in the country of cheating taxes by underreporting the volume of their calls and data sales, but has not named any companies.
MTN Uganda’s spokeswoman Justina Ntabgoba said the government had not been given any details of the alleged underreporting of transactions.
“We have not gotten any official communication, so we don’t have a response. Once we receive an official communication then we can respond,” she said.
Opondo also accused the expelled MTN officials of compromising Uganda’s national security by “providing backend access to unauthorised persons for whatever reasons.
“That’s what these officials of MTN did, opening backend for Uganda’s data system to other unauthorised persons.”
He said the reasons were likely espionage or economic sabotage and that the motivation was still under investigation.