The story
In March 2011, France Télécom (now Orange S.A.) acquired a 20% indirect stake in Korek Telecom.
On Jan 1, 2015, Korek launched 3G in Iraq after winning one of the three 3G licenses awarded by the government of Iraq. On Dec 16, 2015, Korek became the first operator in Iraq to launch Free Basics in Iraq in partnership with Internet.org and Facebook.
In March 2023, the company was implicated in a major corruption scandal and found guilty of bribing regulators, self-dealing, diversions of corporate assets, sham loans, and other illegal schemes. The Paris-based International Court of Arbitration found Korek and its founder and controlling shareholder Sirwan Barzani guilty of ‘fraud and corruption’ and awarded $1.65 billion in damages to Iraq Telecom Limited, a joint venture of Kuwaiti company Agility and French Orange Group, and International Holdings.
From Wikipedia’s article on Korek Telecom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4