Tanzania rules that Bharti Airtel operations were privatised illegally

Magufuli said in December that Airtel Tanzania is a government asset in remarks aired on the East African country's national broadcaster

A Tanzanian probe found that the local unit of Indian mobile-phone company Bharti Airtel Ltd was originally transferred from the state illegally and the government will start talks to retake what it says is its rightful share of the business.

The investigation discovered that the initial privatization of Tanzania Telecommunications Corp. “broke the law, regulations and procedure,” according to a statement from President John Magufuli’s office that quoted Finance Minister Philip Mpango. “What we saw was very dirty and terrible. In short, our country was conned and a lot of money was lost,” Mpango said.

For its part, Airtel said