Kenya’s Anti-corruption Commission, EACC has halted the planned merger between Airtel Kenya and state-owned Telkom, over a misappropriation of funds allegation.
Earlier in February, we shared news about Airtel’s plan to merge with Telkom under a joint venture company called Airtel-Telkom. The merger if realised, would have brought together Kenya’s second and third largest telecom operator. It would have made Airtel-Telkom control 14.6 million mobile subscribers and strengthen their competition against Safaricom, Kenya’s current leading telecom operator.
See also: NCC Fines Airtel & 9mobile for Quality of Service Violation
Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) spokesperson, Mr. Yassin Amaro said the commission is conducting investigations into the alleged misappropriation of public funds pertaining Telkom’s privatization and the restructuring of its balance sheets. EACC is also examining how Telkom will safeguard taxpayer’s interest after the proposed merger.
A separate investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances under which Telkom treasury was sold to Orange, which later sold its stake to private equity fund Helios.
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