09 October 2015

How MTN moved large sums of money out of Ghana, other African countries into tax havens

It has emerged that the telecommunications giant MTN has transferred large sums of money out of Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and Ghana into tax havens.

Although these transfers are badged as payments for management and technical services, in reality much of them end up in a shell company in the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, where MTN employs no staff.

These fees are counted as a cost of doing business and deducted from taxable profits in the countries where MTN operates outside of South Africa, but questions have been asked about whether these payments are justified.

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