The Senate has commenced the investigation of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Elenemah, mobile telecommunications company – MTN – and four banks for illegally moving out $13.92billion out of Nigeria.
The amount, which it said, is over 50percent of the country’s External Reserves, was repatriated out of Nigeria between 2006 and 2016 with the assistance of four banks.
This followed a motion moved by Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) on Tuesday.
While presenting documents to the Senate to back up his allegations, Melaye raised an alarm that Elenemah’s company – CELTELCOM – was allegedly involved in illegal repatriation of funds before he became a minister in November 2015.
Consequently, Senate mandated its Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and report back in two weeks.
“Alarmed that the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Elenemah, owner of CELTELCOM Investment Limited with address at No. 608 St. James, Denis Street Port- Lewis Mauritius purportedly claimed to invest in MTN on 7th February, 2008, got certificate of capital importation and filled form A on the same date, (7th February, 2008), closed his investment in Nigeria after receiving dollars payment for repatriation to New York same day.
“Aware that these offshore entities were offered shareholders loan and their repayment to the extent of repatriation of proceeds of dividends back to MTN International South Africa through the entities and operators of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) brought on board as Directors of MTN communications”, Melaye declared.
He listed individuals and companies, which floated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) outside the country alongside the share loan received from MTN South Africa to include: Cel Telephone Investment Ltd – Port – Louis Mauritius, promoted by Pascal Dozie and Elenemah ($20.75million); Celtel funded shares SPV (renamed NISPV in 2008) – Port – Louis Mauritius, promoted by Dozie, Ahmed Dasuki, Gbenga Oyebode, Babatunde Folawiyo and Elenemah ($2.02million); Mobile Communication Investment Ltd – Port – Louis Mauritius and Mobile Communication Holdings Ltd – Port – Louis Mauritius both promoted by Mohammed Bello with $3.86milllion and $3.45million respectively as share loan.
Others are Hermitage Overseas Corporation Ltd, with Victor Odili as promoter/shareholder ($10.27million); SASPV Ltd promoted by Ahmed Dasuki ($10.06million); N Cell Limited Geneva Water Front Drive, British Virgin Island, promoted by Gbenga Oyebode ($4.51million) and Universal Communication Ltd – Barkly House George Town, Cayman Island, promoted by Babatunde Folawiyo ($5.54million).
According to him, MTN did not request for certificate of capital importation from its bankers – Standard Chartered Bank – within the regulatory period of 24 hours of the inflow, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was not notified of the inflow.
He said the moves violated Section 15 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act, 1995.
Sub-section 1 and 2 of the provision states that: “Any person may invest in any enterprise or security with foreign currency or capital imported into Nigeria through an authorized dealer either by telegraphic transfer, cheques or other negotiable instruments and converted into the naira in the market in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
“The authorized dealer through which the foreign currency or capital for the investment referred to in subsection (1) of this section is imported shall, within 24 hours of the importation, issue a Certificate of Capital Importation to the investor and shall within 48 hours thereafter, make returns to the Central Bank giving such information as the Central Bank may from time to time require”.
He listed the four banks and the amount repatriated from the country to include: Stanbic IBTC ($4.87billion), Standard Chartered Bank ($5.72billion), Citi Bank ($2.98 billion) and Diamond Bank ($0.35billion).
The lawmaker alleged that MTN directed its bankers to issue certificate of capital importation for inflows between five and seven years ago without approval from the apex bank.
He said the development is not healthy for a country that is struggling to come out of economic recession.
