An Uzbek appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling to seize the assets of Russian operator Mobile TeleSystems’ (MTS’) local unit, however the company’s troubles in the Central Asian nation are far from over.
MTS announced that the appeals…
An Uzbek appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling to seize the assets of Russian operator Mobile TeleSystems’ (MTS’) local unit, however the company’s troubles in the Central Asian nation are far from over.
MTS announced that the appeals court of the Tashkent city criminal court has agreed to release MTS-Uzbekistan (Uzdunrobita) assets confiscated by the lower court on 17 September in relation to a criminal case against four company managers.
However, the appeals court has also fined MTS-Uzbekistan about US$600m, to be paid to the state budget over an eight-month period. The fine relates to allegations including tax fraud, which the company has always denied.
The lower court revoked MTS-Uzbekistan’s operating licence in August, leaving about 9.5 million customers without service and prompting the Moscow-based parent company to write off US$1.1bn of the local unit’s assets. The court also sentenced the four managers to two-and-a-half years in jail for embezzlement.
MTS CEO and president Andrei Dubovskov said the company is grateful its arguments at court hearings were taken into account and that its demands have been “partially satisfied”.
“This demonstrates that there may be opportunities to begin identifying a solution mutually beneficial to all parties and to engage in constructive work over settling our differences,” he said.
The appeals court decision came into effect yesterday (8 November).
MTS said it will decide how to proceed to defend its interests once it has received and examined the materials of the case and court documents.
