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| MTN CEO |
Telecommunications giant MTN has hired
a former United States Attorney General Eric Holder to help challenge the $3.9
billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for
failing to disconnect unregistered users, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
Citing people familiar with the situation,
the newspaper said Holder, the immediate past U.S. top law officer, pleaded
with Nigerian officials last month on behalf of the telecoms company.
Africa’s largest mobile phone company was
handed a $5.2billion penalty last October, prompting weeks of lobbying that led
to a 25 per cent reduction to $3.9 billion.
MTN, however, was still not prepared to pay
the fine and launched a court challenge in December, saying the Nigerian
telecoms regulator had no legal grounds to order the penalty.
A Federal High Court judge sitting in Lagos
last month gave MTN until March 18 to try to reach a settlement over
the fine, which equates to more than twice MTN’s annual average capital
spending over the past five years.
MTN spokesperson Chris Maroleng was not immediately available to comment.
Holder, who led the
US Justice Department from 2009 to2015, was one of President Barack Obama’s
longest-serving cabinet members. He returned to the law firm Covington &
Burling, where he was previously a partner from 2001 to 2009.
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