A Cameroon appeals courtroom has ordered the discharge of MTN’s financial institution accounts within the nation, which had been seized in 2022 over a mortgage dispute with a Cameroonian businessman.
A courtroom order froze MTN Group’s Cameroon accounts containing 14 billion francs (R432-million) in September 2022.
The seizure threatened the operations of the Cameroon subsidiary of Africa’s largest cellular provider, which has one of many greatest networks within the central African nation with round 15 million customers.
The dispute over an actual property mortgage entails Cameroonian enterprise mogul Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, the proprietor of Bestinver Group corporations, and South Africa’s First Nationwide Financial institution.
After FNB liquidated a lot of properties belonging to Danpullo in South Africa, the businessman retaliated by having a Cameroonian courtroom freeze the accounts of South African corporations together with MTN.
In 2023, MTN Cameroon stated its funds had been to be transferred into an escrow account managed by the courtroom registrar as a part of a 3rd social gathering debt, or “garnishee”, order associated to the dispute.
MTN appealed and a courtroom dominated on 24 February that the Bestinver Group corporations weren’t entitled to impose these seizures, the operator stated in a press release dated 31 March.
Enforcement order
“MTN Cameroon welcomes this choice, affirming the legitimacy of its defence and restoring its rights,” the corporate stated within the assertion.
One in all Danpullo’s attorneys, Mbanzehe Aggee, stated he would make a brand new try and seize the belongings. “We’re following authorized procedures to acquire an enforcement order.”
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MTN Cameroon has confronted authorized and regulatory challenges lately, reflecting broader tensions between multinational companies and native political and enterprise pursuits. — Amindeh Blaise Atabong, (c) 2025 Reuters
