There are uncertainties in the legal, regulatory and tax environments in the countries in which the Group operates and there is a risk of demands, which may be raised based on current or past business operations. Such demands have in the past been challenged and contested on merits with the relevant authorities and appropriate settlements agreed.

The increase of $23m in contingent liabilities during the year ended 31 March 2025 is primarily on account of new tax demand on income tax, value added tax, regulatory cases and other taxes in some of the subsidiaries of the group. 

The company and its subsidiaries are currently and may become, from time to time, involved in a number of legal proceedings, including inquiries from, or discussions with, governmental authorities that are incidental to their operations. As of 31 March 2025, the Group’s key contingent liabilities include the following:

Claims under legal and regulatory cases including arbitration matter

One of the subsidiaries of the Group is involved in a dispute with one of its vendors, concerning invoices for services provided under a service contract valued at Central African Francs (CFA) 473.8 million (approximately $1 million). After a dispute on the payable amount in 2014, the vendor-initiated arbitration proceedings and was awarded CFA 1.9 billion (approximately $3m) which was paid by the subsidiary’s bank in 2015. The vendor fraudulently claimed not to have received the payment, and after multiple court proceedings dating from 2015, in May 2019, managed to obtain orders of late payment penalties against the subsidiary amounting to CFA 35 billion (approximately $58m), which was confirmed by the Court of Appeal in July 2019. Based on this, third-party garnishee proceedings were initiated by the vendor to recover the debt, leading to certain banks of the subsidiary releasing some funds. The subsidiary immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, but in 2022, the Supreme Court referred the appeal to the CCJA, the regional court in Cote d Ivoire, Abidjan, citing a lack of competence. The transferred file was received by the CCJA in January 2024, where it issued its final decision on 4 September 2024, citing a lack of competence to rule over issues of the penalties, which are within the competence of the national judge. The subsidiary is in the process of reintroducing the case before the national courts, the Supreme Court, for a final determination.

Separately, in December 2020 the subsidiary initiated criminal proceedings against the vendor for fraud and deceitful conduct and presented the bank transfer which showed that the debt had been already paid. Testimony in the criminal investigation case happened on 26 April 2022 before the criminal chamber in the Court of Appeal where the honourable judge further re-examined the facts from the representatives of the subsidiary against this case and also visited the bank to confirm the authenticity of the bank transfer documents. A stay of execution was issued on 30 May 2022 by the Chamber of Accusation in favour of the subsidiary till the time criminal investigation is completed. In October 2023, the criminal court ordered the discontinuation of the investigations and did not retain Airtel Africa plc any criminal charges. The subsidiary immediately appealed to the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court, and a decision is awaited.

The vendor has continued with the attempts for recovery of the alleged late payment penalties. On 2 April 2024, the vendor sent a demand to the subsidiary, in the form of an injunction to pay CFA 54.7 billion (approximately $87m). On that basis, multiple provisional enforcement measures were instituted against the subsidiary in April 2024 including attachment of transferable securities and negotiable instruments of the Group entity, attachment for sale of movable assets, and attachment for sale of fixed assets. The subsidiary opposed the attachments, but the judge allowed their continuation, a decision which was further appealed on 17 June 2024, and 8 November 2024. A final decision is awaited. Further, on 2 December 2024, the Court of Appeal allowed the vendor to proceed with the attachment orders dated April 2021 that had been challenged by the subsidiary. The subsidiary is also challenging this decision.

The Group still awaits the determination of the merits of the case, and the outcome of the criminal investigations, and until that time has disclosed this matter as Contingent Liability for $58m (included in the closing contingent liability). No provision has been made against this claim.

In addition to the individual matters disclosed above, in the ordinary course of business, the Group is a defendant or co-defendant in various litigations and claims which are immaterial individually.

Guarantees

Guarantees outstanding as of 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2024 amounting to $13m and $12m respectively have been issued by banks and financial institutions on behalf of the Group. These guarantees include certain financial bank guarantees which have been given for sub-judice matters and the amounts with respect to these have been disclosed under capital commitments, contingencies and liabilities, as applicable, in compliance with the applicable accounting standards.