A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court's ruling.

The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping and protecting Mfone’s properties, in order to settle the company’s US$3.7 million debt to Eltek.

Kouy Thunna, representative and lawyer for Eltek, said the two companies signed a contract for providing equipment for Mfone’s GSM network expansion in December 2008. 

He added that Eltek had duly supplied the equipment, yet Mfone had not paid them, with the debt now reaching $3,733,989.

“Mfone has been in debt to my client’s company since 2008 and until now the debt was increased up to over US$3.7 million. And the lack of payment has seriously affected my client’s company’s operation,” he told the Post yesterday.

He added that to exercise the court’s decision, court officials will go to implement the warrant at the company’s office in Chamkarnmorn District’s Boeng Keng Kang III Commune in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

Dr Yap Wai Khee, CEO of Mfone, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. Mok Chan Sothea, Mfone’s lawyer, declined to comment when contacted by the Post yesterday.

Mok Chan Sothea said: “I would like not to make any comment about this case.”

In a letter to Eltek from Yap Wai Khee dated September 5, 2011, that was obtained by the Post yesterday, he said: “Currently, our shareholders are working on the debt restructuring with the bank.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at [email protected]