MTN Nigeria said it has “not been accused of any wrongdoing” after reports emerged at the weekend that the MTN Group subsidiary is being investigated by the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The commission wrote a letter to MTN Nigeria on 23 May requesting information and documentation related to the listing. “MTN Nigeria has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the EFCC,” the company said in a statement.
“We wish to reiterate that we received all regulatory approvals required to list our shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as publicly confirmed by the (exchange) and the Securities and Exchange Commission,” it said.
“As a law-abiding and responsible corporate citizen, we are co-operating fully with the authorities. We are committed to good governance and to abiding by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
MTN listed its shares in Nigeria on 16 May to comply with the terms of a US$1.5-billion settlement in 2015 with the Nigerian Communications Commission over unregistered Sim cards on its network, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.
Since the listing, the stock has jumped 41%, closing at ₦140/share on Friday, giving the company a market capitalization of ₦2.8-trillion (about R110-billion), second only to Dangote Cement.
MTN is also in court challenging a $2-billion bill for alleged back taxes.
MTN Group shares were down 1.3% at R99 shortly after 9.30am in trading in Johannesburg. — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media, with additional reporting (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP