According to Sahara Reporters, South African telecom giant, MTN, has fired one of its top and very valuable staffers in order to avoid scrutiny by the United States government over bribes allegedly offered to the Chief of Staff to Nigerian President.
Shortly after helping to resolve a hefty fine imposed by the Nigerian government, a top staff was so important to MTN that the company gave her two strategic positions. Her corporate elevation saw her combining leadership of the Human Resources department with the post of “Director of Strategic Communications” at MTN.
The top staff and her husband were instrumental in resolving MTN’s serious problem with the Nigerian Presidency where a massive $5.2 billion fine was imposed on the company for ignoring the Nigerian government’s directive to ensure that all SIM cards were registered as a strategy to curb Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.
An insider within the company and other sources in Abuja told Sahara Reporters correspondent that, immediately the fine was imposed, the top staff recruited a close friend to act as a consultant for “strategic advisory services.” The close friend was thus a member of the team that negotiated with the Federal Government to reduce the fine to $1.7 billion. According to Sahara Reporters, the top MTN staff once worked with the current Nigerian president’s Chief of Staff while at the United Bank for Africa.
Once the fine was reduced to about a third of the original sum, the top MTN staff’s corporate status seemed to soar. Nevertheless, a source says, last week, MTN told her to step down from one of her two corporate positions but she decided to resign instead.