MTN ENLISTS PROMINENT FOREIGN LAWYER TO CHALLENGE $3.9BN FINE IN COURT

Just yesterday, it was gathered that 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.People in the know had said the immediate past US top lawyer had pleaded with Nigerian officials last month on behalf of the telecoms company.

After MTN was fined, the company has launched a court order in December, saying the Nigerian telecoms regulator had no legal grounds to order the penalty.

But notwithstanding, 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.

Holder, who led the US Justice Department from 2009 to 2015, was one of President Barack Obama’s longest-serving cabinet members. He returned to the law firm Covington & Burling, where he was a partner from 2001 to 2009.