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On the heels of the mass resignations that hit Etisalat Nigeria, one of the major telcos in the country, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has stepped into the mix to scrutinize the ledger of the company which has been embroiled in a maze of debts to a consortium of banks.
A consortium of 13 banks led by Access Bank had advanced a $1.2 billion loan to Etisalat Nigeria but the banks claimed that the loans were not serviced according to schedule and threatened to take over the telco. Interventions by telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and the nation’s exchequer, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, failed to achieved much as the fragile truce reached among the banks and the telco soon fell apart.
The crisis led to a rash of resignations by Directors of the telco and the Chairman, Hakeem Belo-Osagie, but this did little to assuage the anger of the banks which claimed that there was more to what happened to the loan that meets the eye. They tipped off the EFCC to pry into the books of Etisalat to determine how the loan was spent.
A senior EFCC operative told our reporter that the anti-graft Commission has stepped into the fray, adding that preliminary investigations had begun.
But Etisalat claimed it was not owing the entire amount of $1.2 billion, stressing that it had serviced about 42 percent of the loan.
“As at today, we can categorically state that the outstanding loan sum to the consortium(of banks) stands at $227m and N113bn, a total of about $574m if the naira portion is converted to US Dollars. This, in essence, means almost half of the original loan of $1.2bn, has been repaid.
“Etisalat continued to service the loan up until February 2017, when discussions with the banks regarding the repayment restructuring commenced,” Ibrahim Dikko, vice-president, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs of Etisalat Nigeria had explained.
However, an EFCC source the investigation would not hamper operations at the telco but would help to establish if there cases of abuse of office or any such sleight of hand among those in charge of management of the funds at the telco.
The source said some senior members of staff including persons who had resigned would be invited very soon for routine dialogue with the anti-graft agency.
Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report says no fewer than five companies have expressed interest in Etisalat Nigeria, although the two international telco giants, Orange and Vodafone were said to have shown strong interest in staking a claim for up to 65 percent equity in the telco.
