Illegal $13.9bn transfer: MTN, Enelamah, banks, others get Thursday date with Senate

Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions has scheduled Thursday October 20 for an open probe of MTN, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah and some banks, over an alleged illegal repatriation of $13.92 billion out of the country between 2006 and 2016.

The Senate had on September 27, 2016 alleged that Enelamah connived with MTN to exploit the Nigerian financial system to move the money out of the country without authorisation.

It was further alleged that MTN smartly beat Nigeria’s financial regulatory laws by failing to obtain a certificate of capital importation, which would have authorised it to move capital into Nigeria from its South African bankers, Standard Bank, as authorised by the law within 24 hours.

It was equally alleged that the repatriation was done through Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Diamond Bank and Citi Bank.

To get to the root of the matter, the Senate mandated its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions to probe the minister, MTN, the banks and other Nigerians alleged to have been involved in the deal.

Against this background, the committee has summoned MTN, Enelamah, Col. Sani Bello, Chairman of Diamond Bank, Dr. Pascal Dozie and Ahmed Dasuki. Also expected at the investigative hearing are Gbenga Oyebode, Babatunde Folawiyo and Victor Odili.