Etisalat's Chairman Mohammed Omran has said that it has the right to withhold payments to Pakistan for failure to transfer some properties under a $2.6bn deal to acquire a stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Co, Bloomberg has reported. The company said its board of directors had obtained a legal opinion from international and external counsel that all steps for the sale of the asset had been followed and the acquisition was legally valid under Pakistani law. "Under the agreed terms of the transaction, Etisalat is entitled to withhold payments until the property titles were transferred to PTCL," Omran said.