MTN could get a refund in naira if it returns the money it has been accused of repatriating ‘flagrantly’
Lagos/Johannesburg — MTN may receive a naira-denominated refund if Africa’s biggest wireless carrier returns the $8.1bn that Nigeria says was illegally taken out of the country. The South African cellphone company must bring back the cash after it and three banks "flagrantly violated foreign-exchange violations", Nigeria Central Bank deputy governor Joseph Nnanna said by text message on Sunday, reiterating a Wednesday order. The lenders have been hit with a combined $16m fine for their role in the transactions, which happened over eight years to the end of 2015. News of a potential like-for-like naira refund answers one of the outstanding questions arising from last week’s bombshell, when the reserve bank handed down the order to the country’s biggest mobile-phone company. How and when MTN should pay the money and what happens if the company does not comply remain unanswered. MTN refutes all allegations. MTN’s share price ended the week 17% lower in the wake of the turmoil, leaving ...
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