Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has alluded to a possible reduction of the fine imposed on MTN.
He stated this on Sunday in London.
CBN had earlier accused the telecommunications giant of illegally repatriating $8.1 billion to investors in its parent country. The banks involved in the transaction, Standard Chartered, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Citibank and Diamond Bank were also charged with using irregular certificates of capital importation to funnel the funds out of the country.
The four institutions were issued fines that summed up to N5.1 billion for their involvement.
According to Reuters, Emefiele said new documents provided by the telecoms company would help to reduce the size of the claim.
“I don’t think it will be staying at $8.1bn,” Emefiele projected, noting that he expects the problem to be resolved peacefully and equitably.
A report by SaharaReporters had revealed that Emefiele was initially hesitant to impose the sanctions.
While explaining that the said documents were sent in two weeks back, Emefiele said: “The central bank will be examining these, then it will be escalated up to my level.”
He also noted that a verdict could be expected In a fortnight.
The two parties are, however, in court as the apex bank challenged a suit filed by MTN in September last week.
IN the counter suit, CBN asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to mandate MTN to pay 15 per cent annualised interest on the sum until the court could give a judgment and 10 per cent from then until the whole amount would be paid.
Courtesy: Sahara Reporters
Good news for MTN