MTN Group has appointed Troopti Desai as group executive for tax, effective from next month.

In a statement, MTN says Desai, who holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, a higher diploma in tax law and an MBA from Wits University, has extensive experience in the fields of labour law, immigration law, corporate tax, mergers and acquisitions tax, tax incentives, corporate governance, legal and finance, as well as tax policy and revenue authority engagement.

She joins MTN from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where she was a partner in the corporate tax department, responsible for managing various forms of tax risk for multinationals and SA-listed clients across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to PwC, Desai was head of tax for SSA at General Electric (GE) and was also a director of multiple GE entities in South Africa.

The appointment of Desai as MTN’s tax boss comes a year after the telco was let off the hook after battling with Nigerian authorities over a $2 billion tax claim.

MTN Nigeria's tax battle with the country's attorney-general had been ongoing since September 2018, after it was slapped with a claim for back taxes of $2 billion.

Nigeria is MTN's biggest market, accounting for a third of the African telecoms giant's annual core profit.