MTN Group Ltd. may receive a naira-denominated refund if the Africa’s biggest wireless carrier returns the $8.1 billion that the Central Bank of Nigeria says was illegally taken out of the country.
The Apex bank gave the indication through a mobile text message sent to MTN on Sunday to clarify payment demands.
According to the CBN Deputy Governor, Joseph Nnanna who sent by text message on Sunday, the South African phone company must bring back the cash after it and three banks “flagrantly violated foreign-exchange violations,” to reiterate a Wednesday order.
The lenders have been hit with a combined $16 million fine for their role in the transactions, which happened over eight years through 2015.
MTN’s share price ended the week 17 percent lower in the wake of the turmoil, leaving the stock close to nine-month lows. The news came almost three years after Nigeria hit the carrier with a $5.2 billion fine — later reduced to about $1 billion — in an entirely separate dispute over SIM-card registration. That incident also weighed heavily on the share price.
MTN had agreed to sell shares in the Nigeria business in Lagos as part of the 2016 SIM-card settlement, but the latest censure has thrown those plans in jeopardy.
The crackdown on the company comes as Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari seeks re-election for a new four-year term in a February vote. His administration has gone after companies for irregularities as well as tax-defaulters, part of a wider pledge to fight corruption in Africa’s most populous nation.
