Nigeria senate seeks sanction against Stanbic IBTC on MTN Fx transactions

The Nigerian Senate has directed the central bank of Nigeria to sanction Stanbic IBTC, a local unit of South Africa Standard Bank for the breach of the foreign exchange rules on the repatriation of capital for the MTN Nigeria.
Ruling on a motion after a probe commissioned by the lawmakers on the allegations that the Telecom firm had illegally repatriated $14 billion out of the country on Wednesday, the Senate said since the bank had admitted some irregularities in the transactions, the regulatory bank should sanction it appropriately.
The Senate had in September mandated its committee on banking and finance to investigate whether Africa's biggest telecoms firm unlawfully repatriated $13.92 billion from Nigeria - its most lucrative market which generates a third of its revenue - between 2006 and 2016.
Although the report exonerated the South African telecoms giant MTN of accusations of illegally repatriating, it, however, punched holes on the Central bank applications of the rule on capital importation by foreign firms into the country.
The crux of the allegation is that MTN did not obtain certificates declaring it had invested foreign currency in Nigeria within a 24-hour deadline stipulated in a 1995 law, making the repatriation of returns on the investments illegal.
The lawmakers also latched at the regulatory bank, saying the CBN's duty is to correct and, if needed, sanction banks and their customers for any wrongdoing, which it never did.
The central bank, the Senate said never testified to the committee that there had been any infractions.
"By never applying sanctions, the CBN had lent credence to the commercial banks' argument that they were not breaking any rules by transferring foreign currency, the report said.