Etisalat Holds a Payment of $1 Billion to Pakistan Govt
Etisalat has not paid $1 billion to Pakistan’s government for its 2006 purchase of a 26 percent stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Corp, the country’s largest telecoms firm, because of a dispute over ownership of several properties. A senior official from Pakistan’s government, who declined to be named, told the newspaper the government was owed close to $1 billion and had not received any payments for more than a year.
“Transfer of land is part of the contract. It says if it doesn’t happen we can stop the payments,” Mohammed Omran, chairman of Etisalat, the UAE’s largest telecoms operator, was quoted as saying in the paper.
Omran declined to confirm the number of properties in dispute but added: “We have estimates but we don’t want to discuss specific numbers outside for contractual reasons. I can tell you the properties are in main cities and very valuable.”
Senior Etisalat officials met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad in December to resolve the dispute.
Waqar Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s minister for privatization said:
The Pakistani premier has assured the Etisalat delegation of his full support, but at the same time he has expressed concern over the payments owed to Pakistan’s government. We will do all we can to assist Etisalat but we want this issue resolved and cash transferred to the exchequer as soon as possible, within days.
Please note that Omran had said in April that Etisalat planned to increase its stake in Pakistan Telecommunication by another 25 percent, giving it a controlling stake.
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[...] – Etisalat Issue to Be Resolved in One Month ShareAs already covered, Etisalat holds around $1.2 Billion to PTCL. Now as per officials report, Pakistan expects to resolve land transfers linked to a deal with the [...]