The US embassy in Montenegro has called upon the country’s government to carry out a thorough investigation of Hungarian incumbent Magyar Telekom’s acquisition of a majority stake in local operator Telekom Crne Gore (now Crnogorski Telekom) in…
The US embassy in Montenegro has called upon the country’s government to carry out a thorough investigation of Hungarian incumbent Magyar Telekom’s acquisition of a majority stake in local operator Telekom Crne Gore (now Crnogorski Telekom) in connection with corruption allegations.
The embassy has supported a government investigation launched in January 2012 into the allegations, helping to obtain relevant documents. However, it now wants the investigation to be stepped up “to bring all guilty parties to justice”.
In a statement, the embassy indicated that the investigation relates to a December 2011 civil court case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against three senior executives of Magyar Telekom, including chairman and CEO Elek Straub.
The case alleged that the three executives authorised the Hungarian telco to make corrupt payments of €7.35m to Montenegrin government officials to facilitate its 2005 acquisition of Telekom Crne Gore.
The SEC had jurisdiction over the actions of the Magyar Telekom executives as the company had shares listed on the US stock market, but not over the actions of the Montenegrins.
Magyar Telekom, controlled by Deutsche Telekom, and Crnogorski Telekom were not immediately available for comment.
Magyar Telekom has a 76.53% stake in the Montenegrin incumbent.
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