- Court to Hear MTN’s Case Oct 30
It is one day to the October 30, date for court to hear the case between Telecommunication giant, MTN and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a dispute over the alleged transfer of $8.1bn of funds by the telecom firm.
And the position of industry watchers has remained that amicable resolution should be reached in the bid to salvage the industry which has been described as the cash cow to the nation’s emerging economy and the key sector in Government Economic Recovery Plan (GERP).
Recall that, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has admitted in an interview that the series of sanctions leveled against ICT company, is maligning the country’s reputation in the international community stating that an holistic view critical to sustain the nation’s nursing economy rather than a damping position should be embraced by stakeholders.
“The MTN incident was a very damaging one for us, that was one of the reasons why we have been out trying to engage investors”, she said at the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit Abuja on Tuesday, 23rd October 2018.
The telecom company and four banks (Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Diamond Bank) have been embroiled in a protracted back and forth, with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the office of the Attorney-General demanding over $10billion for alleged illegal repatriation of dividends as well as tax defaults.
The minister gave reasons for the sanctions, explaining that “there is a tendency for big business to take regulations and governments for granted.” She continued further in her explanation stating that “After that incident happened, all the information the CBN has been trying to get in two months actually came. Now, they have almost solved the problem.”
“We are trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again, we are continuously discussing with monetary authorities. There will be no company next after MTN, nobody is next because we can’t afford for this kind of incidence to keep happening,” she added.
“Nigeria is considered a high-risk country especially after the MTN debacle, investors are not very keen on exposing their investments to state volatility”, @FakhuusHashim, an influential social media user who shared his view on the public matter stated while urging that the pro and cons of the matter be considered thoroughly.
MTN Nigeria’s Public Relations Manager, Funso Aina, in a statement issued in August confirmed the company’s position, clearly stated that MTN has been cooperating with the government and all necessary information required had been provided by the telecommunications company and these have been exhaustively reviewed and cleared in 2016/2017.
In a following statement issued by the company in September, the company further stressed these points and its historic engagements with the Nigerian authorities.
“It is both regrettable and disconcerting that despite the historic engagements with the Nigerian authorities by MTN Nigeria, the Senate investigation into the CCI matter, and the multiple tax assessments done by the Nigerian tax authorities over many years that were satisfactorily concluded, that these matters are being reopened.”
During a 2016 Senate investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act by MTN, the bank regulator, had said that the company was not in breach of any provision of the law with respect to the Certificates of Capital Importation, in effect, concurring with the company.
But two years after CBN said MTN contributed to depleting the country’s reserves through the purchase of dollars via unapproved certificates. MTN has denied any wrongdoing.
Nigeria faced a severe shortage of dollars in 2016 caused by low oil prices, leading to a sharp devaluation of the naira. The currency crisis triggered a recession, which the country emerged from last year.
MTN said it paid the naira equivalent to purchase a total of $8.1bn from the central bank in several tranches over a nine-year period and that it did not negatively impair the reserves.
The pending civil cases will be heard on the 30th of October and 8th of November.
