$8.1bn transfer: Court to hear MTN’s case against CBN

A hearing in the court case between MTN and the Central Bank of
Nigeria in a dispute over the alleged transfer of $8.1bn of funds
by the telecom firm has been set for October 30, a lawyer for MTN
said on Friday.

MTN has denied claims that it depleted Nigeria’s foreign
exchange reserves, the South African telecom group’s lawyer, Wole
Olanipekun, was quoted by Reuters as saying on Friday, after the
central bank accused the company of moving $8.1bn abroad in an
ongoing row with the bank, which is battling to shore up its
currency.

Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market and accounts for a third of its
annual core profit.

The CBN had said in its counterclaim to the court that 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 in a court filing on Thursday that 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.

Nigeria has burnt reserves to keep the naira stable. Central
bank data on Thursday showed that the bank spent $2.2bn in the
month to October 16 to defend the currency, while the reserves fell
to an eight-month low of $42.8bn.

Central bank officials met with MTN and its lenders this week to
discuss the dispute. The bank said it was looking for a
resolution.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, was
quoted by Reuters on Wednesday as saying that the central bank and
MTN could soon agree a deal.

A separate hearing between MTN and the Attorney General of the
Federation over an alleged $2bn unpaid tax bill has been scheduled
for November 8 at the same court in Lagos, Olanipekun told
Reuters.