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MTN Nigeria Communications, at the weekend, assured that it was not under watch for criminal infractions by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency: the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Mobile telecoms giant said the listing of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was being investigated by the EFCC to ascertain compliance to the law. A statement on the website of the NSE signed by MTN Nigeria Communications, Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah confirmed the investigation.
There have been reports of scarcity of MTN’s shares after its listing and allegations of price manipulation, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Some minority shareholders had accused capital market regulators of conniving with MTN Nigeria to allegedly manipulate the performance of the share price at the exchange. MTN Nigeria has also been accused of not meeting the free float of 20 per cent before listing. The telecom company has denied this.
“MTN Nigeria has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the EFCC,” said Ukpanah in the statement which also confirmed that the company received a letter on May 23 from EFCC requesting information and documentation related to the listing of its shares on the NSE.
Ukpanah further stated:
“We wish to reiterate that we received all regulatory approvals required to list our shares on the NSE, as publicly confirmed by NSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“As a law-abiding and responsible corporate citizen, we are cooperating fully with the authorities.
“We are committed to good governance and to abiding by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
