An invite, not a legal notice to president

Clarifying the issue over a “legal notice” to President Abdul Hamid, Grameenphone’s parent company Telenor has claimed that it was not a legal notice but an invitation letter to him for dialogue.

“Telenor Group sent an invitation letter for dialogue, and not a legal notice,” Cathrine Stang Lund, director of Group Communication Asia, Telenor Group, said in a statement on Sunday, UNB reported.

According to the treaty process, she said such letters should be sent to heads of state.

Telenor had made Bilateral Investment Treaty with the governments of Bangladesh and Singapore.

On Thursday, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar said Grameenphone has sent a legal notice to President Hamid through a legal agency in Singapore seeking arbitration with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) over its dues.

Lund said, “It’s Telenor Group’s position that we believe the disputed audit should be solved through dialogue, and that an amicable and transparent solution should be reached between the authorities of Bangladesh and Grameenphone.

“It remains our hope that this can be solved without international arbitration. It’s an agreement establishing the terms and conditions for private investment by nationals and companies of one state in another state.”

The statement said, “Bangladesh has around 30 bilateral investment treaties. The procedures adhered to by Telenor are agreed in the treaty, and Telenor is following due process.

“The process itself is governed by the treaty, and includes a period of six months for discussions after initial invitation letter, before any further steps towards international arbitration can be taken.”

On November 24, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division asked mobile phone operator Grameenphone to pay within three months Tk 2,000 crore of the Tk 12,579.95 crore dues as claimed by BTRC.

The BTRC claims dues of Tk 12,579.95 crore in 27 sectors from GP. Having failed to recover the money, the telecom regulator on April 2 sent a notice to GP threatening to revoke its licence.

Later, GP moved to a lower court seeking a temporary injunction on the BTRC’s notice which was turned down on August 28. Later, it filed an appeal with the High Court.

Contacted, Mustafa Jabbar told The Daily Star Telenor hurt Bangladeshi peoples’ feeling by sending the legal notice to the president, and it may now be trying to divert the issue to a different direction.

Asked, he said, “I have nothing to say about their new statement. I am speechless.”

He also said he had copies of the legal notice and its reply. “There is no confusion that they have sent the legal notice to president of Bangladesh.”

The notice was sent through Singapore-based international law firm Allen & Overy LLP and a reply was sent from the Attorney General’s Office on November 17.

The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the reply, signed by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, which said there was no scope for arbitration over the Tk 12,579.95 crore audit claim dispute between the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the mobile operator.

The reply also acknowledged the notice and said Grameenphone (sister concern of Telenor) has already filed a title suit with the joint district court and subsequently appealed before the High Court.

At present, the matter is pending with the Appellate Division, it read.

Khandaker Reza-E-Raquib, a legal counsel for BTRC, said he also saw the copy of the legal notice and its reply.