MTN seeks court order to protect its Nigeria assets over dispute

MTN Group said on Monday it has applied to Nigeria’s High Court to restrain the country’s Central Bank and the Attorney General from taking further action over its assets in the wake of a multibillion-dollar dispute. Central Bank of Nigeria last month ordered MTN’s MTN Nigeria to make a refund of $8.1 billion that it illegally transferred, while the federal government also recently handed MTN an outstanding $2 billion tax bill.

Meanwhile the South African government has said it is willing to intervene in the dispute between MTN Group and the Nigerian government, if MTN asks for help, South Africa’s Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwele told Reuters. “If they need our assistance, then we will engage our counterpart in Nigeria,” Cwele said on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Durban. Cwele also said that MTN has told the South African government that talks continue between the company and the Nigerian government.