MTN seeks out of court settlement with NCC
Telecommunications
Company, MTN Nigeria, has said it is considering settling out of court with the
Nigerian Communications Commission over the N1.04tn fine imposed on it.
On Friday, at the
resumed hearing of the suit it filed to challenge the N1.04tn fine, MTN’s
lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), pleaded with the presiding judge, Justice
Mohammed Idris, to give parties 60 days to explore the option of settlement out
of court.
But the Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who
was sued as the 2nd defendant, told the court, through his lawyer, Mr. Dipo
Okpeseyi (SAN), that parties had been finding it difficult to settle out of
court.
He urged the court to
take it that all the court papers in the matter had been properly filed and
served and that the case was still ongoing.
“This is a matter of
national importance. There have been concessions in the past and nothing
happened,” Okpeseyi noted.
In his own reaction,
counsel for the NCC, Mr. Yusuf Alli (SAN), argued that the maximum period
allowed by the court rules was 21 days for parties to file and serve written
addresses.
After entertaining
arguments from all parties, Justice Idris adjourned till March 18 for report of
settlement or for hearing in the case.
The judge also held
that all processes filed shall be deemed as properly filed and served.
He held that all the
preliminary objections and substantive application shall be taken together on
the adjourned date if need be.
Justice Idris had on
January 12, 2016 turned down an application of mareva injunction by the AGF
seeking to bar MTN from emptying its accounts in 21 commercial banks in
Nigeria, in order not to boycott N1.04tn fine.
The AGF had expressed
the fear that MTN could move all its funds out of the country before the
N1.04tn fine could be enforced.
He had sought an order
directing all the 21 banks to open a special interest-yielding account in the
name of the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court and move N1.04tn into it
from MTN’s accounts.
But in refusing the
application, the judge said the AGF did not place enough material fact before
the court to prove that MTN was making any moves to repatriate all its funds
out of Nigeria.
MTN had filed the suit
to challenge the N1.04tn fine imposed on it by NCC for its failure to
deactivate its unregistered subscribers.
Among other things,
the company contended that NCC could not act pursuant to Section 70 of its
establishment Act to impose the fine on it, adding that it was not given fair
hearing before the fine was imposed.
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