MTN denies paying bribe to Nigerian officials to reduce fine

MTN has denied reports that it bribed a top Nigerian government official to reduce its fine.

The multi-national mobile company was initially fined 5.2 billion US dollars for failing to de-activate more than five-million unregistered SIM cards.

The penalty was eventually reduced to over one-billion-US dollars.

Wits University’s Corporate Law Professor, Tshepo Mongalo, says although there’s no proof to implicate MTN, the practice is common on the continent.

“The report of the panel on illicit financial flow shows that these kinds of transactions are undertaken by multi-nationals and MTN being one of them could fall very clearly within that,” says Mongalo.

He says, “It will be a bad thing for MTN to be involved because they understand how important reputation is, if they have put out a statement it means they have thought about this.”