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Weekly Lists
August 25, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
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Russian conglomerate Sistema seen having to sell MTS to pay €2bn Rosneft fine
Prosecutors indict Romanian telco RCS & RDS for bribery
Iranian ride-hailing app drivers to be given tax exemption for the moment
Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema could be forced to sell or col- lateralise its stake in one of country’s “big three” mobile operators in order to pay the €1.95bn compensation slapped on Sistema by a Bashkortostan court this week, analysts surveyed by Vedomosti daily on August 24 believe.
Sistema has to pay RUB130bn in damages out of RUB170.6bn sought by Russia’s oil behemoth Rosneft for alleged abuse of Sis- tema’s shareholding rights in the Bashneft oil company, which used to be controlled by Sistema until it was seized by the state. Rosneft paid RUB330bn ($5.3bn) in October last year in a dodgy privatisation deal that transferred control of Bashneft to Rosneft in what was widely seen as another example of poor property rights in Russia.
Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate DNA announced it has formally indicted telecom company RCS & RDS, some of its former managers, and the former head of the Professional Football League (LPF) Mitica Dragomir in a bribery case.
RCS & RDS allegedly paid a €3.1mn bribe to Dragomir, who in exchange amended a contract between RCS & RDS and LPF by lowering the fees paid by the former for the broadcasting rights.
Drivers using Uber-like applications in Iran will be exempt from self-employed income tax for the time being according to the Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA), Financial Tribune reported on August 23.
Ride-hailing has grown in popularity in cities like Tehran and Mashhad in recent months with more than 100,000 "gig-economy" jobs created from the new application-based services. They are also popular with customers too, as they are on average 50% of the price of a standard cab fare.