South Africa Suspends Ambassador Linked To MTN Case

South Africa's foreign ministry has suspended a former ambassador to Tehran after allegations he took a $200,000 bribe to help MTN Group win a mobile licence in Iran, a spokesman said in a radio interview on Wednesday.

Clayson Monyela told Talk Radio 702 that Yusuf Saloojee, currently ambassador to Oman, had been suspended until investigations into his links to the MTN deal are concluded.

South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said this week in a response to written parliamentary questions that her department had started an investigation into the allegations against Saloojee.

Johannesburg-based MTN is being sued by Turkish rival Turkcell for $4.2 billion. The Turkish company alleges MTN bribed Saloojee and used other underhanded methods to win a licence over Turkcell in 2005.

MTN has denied the charges and called Turkcell's demands "extortionate".

An elite South African police unit also launched an investigation but it has not given details of its investigation.

Saloojee has denied the allegations in statements published by the South African media.

Shares of MTN were 1.4 percent lower at 144.46 rand at 1416 GMT, underperforming a Top-40 index, which was 0.88 percent down.