Mobile phone giant MTN has accused Nigeria’s central bank of damaging investor confidence after it accused the company of illegally transferring $8bn (£6.1bn) abroad.
The allegations against MTN had been investigated by the Senate, Nigeria’s upper parliamentary chamber, and it found that the company “did not collude to contravene foreign exchange laws”, the firm said in a statement.
MTN was law-abiding, and would vigorously defend its position, it added.
“The re-emergence of these issues is regrettable as it damages investor confidence and, by extension, inhibits the growth and development of the Nigerian economy,” MTN said.
MTN Group shares plunged as much as 25 percent to a nine year low on Thursday, a day after Nigeria ordered the telecoms group’s Lagos-based business to hand over the money that the authorities say was illegally sent abroad.
The demand by Nigeria’s central bank is the latest setback for MTN in Nigeria, the South African group’s most lucrative but increasingly also its most problematic market.
It comes two years after MTN, Africa’s biggest telecoms company, agreed to pay more than $1 billion to end a dispute in Nigeria over unregistered SIM cards.
The latest case underlines the risks of MTN’s strategy to operate in emerging markets, a move that has made it one of post-apartheid South Africa’s biggest commercial success stories, with operations in more than 20 countries.
Nigeria’s central bank said the funds had been illegally moved abroad because the company’s bankers had failed to verify MTN had met all the foreign exchange regulations.
MTN denies the allegations.
MTN shares closed down 19.41 percent at 86.50 rand, after touching 80.61 rand, a level last seen in 2009.
The money is more than half of MTN’s market capitalisation, and analysts said the demand risked further undermining Nigeria’s efforts to shake off an image as a risky frontier market for international investors.
