MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, from taking further action over its assets in the wake of a multibillion-dollar dispute.
The CBN last month ordered MTN to hand over $8.1 billion that it said was illegally sent abroad, and Malami said last week that the company owes the country $2 billion in taxes relating to imports of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers.
Commenting on the developments, MTN Nigeria Corporate Relations Executive, Tobe Okigbo, said: “The allegations being made involve issues that appear to be complex and so are easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. They are made even more confusing when the relevant authorities send conflicting messages and instructions and act in a way that appears un-coordinated and at cross purposes.
“The simple reality is that MTN Nigeria has never repatriated dividends on the CCIs referenced by the CBN and that MTN is fully compliant with Nigerian tax law.
“With situations like this, it is vital for both the government, regulators and the company to have absolute clarity on the nature of both the allegations being made and the processes that are being followed. In the absence of this clarity, our only option is to seek judicial intervention and to ask the courts to act as adjudicator. This has been done today.”
The company says it remains fully committed to Nigeria and remains resolute that the company has not committed any offences and will continue to defend its position vigorously.
It adds that it will continue engaging with the relevant authorities, and further information will be provided as and when available.
“Nigeria, it’s our largest market. We’ve been operating there since 2001,” MTN Group Chief Executive, Rob Shuter, told reporters at the ITU Telecom World conference in Durban. “We do have some challenges these past few weeks, but we believe we will be able to make our case and I’m sure we will move past that as soon as we can.”
