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MTN shares drop on new Nigerian allegations

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 27 Sept 2016
A Nigerian politician alleges that MTN illegally repatriated millions of dollars over 10 years through four banks.
A Nigerian politician alleges that MTN illegally repatriated millions of dollars over 10 years through four banks.

MTN's share price dropped over 3% today after Bloomberg reported that a Nigerian lawmaker had accused the mobile operator of illegally moving almost $14 billion (R188 billion) out of the country. The telco's share price was down to R119.77 at the close of trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange today.

According to Bloomberg the Johannesburg-based company is accused of repatriating the funds over 10 years starting in 2006, according to Dino Melaye, the politician who made the motion. The four banks involved in the alleged illegal transfers are Citigroup, Standard Chartered, and Nigerian lenders Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Diamond Bank.

Nigeria's Senate will thoroughly investigate the claim, it said on its Twitter account on Tuesday.

The accusation comes a little over three months after MTN agreed to pay a 330 billion naira (R25.1 billion at the time) fine to the Nigerian government after about eight months of negotiations. The original R71 billion penalty was slapped on the company last October for failing to meet a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards on the MTN Nigeria network.

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