Business
MTN, CBN Out-Of-Court Settlement Gets Official Approval
Justice Saidu adopted the terms of settlement as the judgment of the court
MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement with the Central Bank of Nigeria over a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally repatriating $8.1 billion out of the country to South Africa in contravention of foreign exchange regulations.
In its lawsuit, the bank demanded MTN to return $8.1 billion “to the coffers of the CBN.” MTN, on the other hand, denied any wrongdoings and filed a suit challenging the fine.
MTN’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), informed about the out-of-court settlement to Justice Saliu Saidu. He presented a document containing the terms of the settlement between the parties before the court, which he urged the court to endorse as its judgment on the case. Henry Ejiofor, who represented CBN’s lead counsel, Seyi Sowemimo (SAN), also confirmed to the judge that both parties have settled out of court.
The Attorney General of the Federation, represented by Olanike Idenu, did not oppose the settlement proposal. Idenu asked the court to strike out his client’s name from the suit.
In his ruling, Justice Saidu thanked both the parties for the out-of-court settlement as it would not waste the court’s precious judicial time by going through the rigors of a trial. He adopted the terms of settlement as the judgment of the court and struck out the AGF’s name from the suit.
Details of the settlement currently remain unknown as the parties did not discuss the settlement terms in open court.
In related news, MTN Nigeria has announced that it has touched the lives of about 300,000 at the end of the year 2018 through its Season of Surprises (SOS) campaign that went round Nigeria.
Olubayo Adekambi, The Chief Transformation Officer of MTN Nigeria, said the company will continue to do more in contributing to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
