MTN staved off an attempt by the Nigerian government to freeze its accounts, after the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday turned down the application on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
This is according to Nigerian scribe, This Day<\/a>, which reported that the application was aimed at preventing the mobile operator from emptying its accounts in 21 commercial banks in the country.<\/p>\n The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) fined MTN \u20a61.04-trillion (around R71-billion at the time) in October 2015 for not disconnecting unregistered SIMs on its network.<\/p>\n After negotiations with Nigerian authorities, the fine was reduced by 25% to \u20a6780-billion.<\/p>\n MTN then opted to take the matter to court in Lagos, thereby missing a 31 December deadline imposed by the Nigerian government.<\/p>\n A 14-paragraph affidavit argued that MTN was in the habit of repatriating its funds out of Nigeria. The affidavit stated that between October 2007 and May 2009, MTN repatriated $7.7 billion made in Nigeria to a foreign account.<\/p>\n The judge however, turned down the application stating that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) did not have enough evidence to indicate that MTN would empty its accounts.<\/p>\n Shares in MTN were up marginally in early trade on the JSE on Wednesday, to R122.94.<\/p>\n MTN in stand-off over massive fine: report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n MTN to challenge Nigeria fine in the high court<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n MTN hit with ratings downgrade<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on MTN<\/h3>\n