Kayode Ekundayo and Zakariyya Adaramola
9 July 2009
Lagos — The Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel Limited, Mr. Johnson Salako, who regained his freedom on Monday after eight days in the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) custody yesterday cried foul over his arrest, saying he was wrongly detained as it was the former management of the company that was granted "waiver" by the Nigerian Communications commission (NCC) and not the new Mobitel.
Speaking in Lagos at a press conference, Salako said the application and subsequent grant of the said "waiver" by the NCC in its letter dated October 17, 2008 occurred well before management and control of Mobitel were handed over to its current owners on November 14, 2008.
According to the Mobitel boss, based on pressures from the EFCC, the company had been forced to present a draft of N48m to the anti-graft agency on June 22 for the refund of the so called waiver even though it was not the one to whom the waiver was granted.
He said the records the new management of which he is the CEO met on ground as the new owners were not sufficiently explicit as to the basis of the waiver, adding that the company received different and conflicting views and accounts as to same including the information that mobitel may have been over-billed or over-invoiced by the NCC.
The embattled Mobitel boss said it seemed reasonable that the NCC should be in the best position to authoritatively explain and clarify the issues.
His words: "As you are all aware I was invited and detained by EFCC for 8 days over the controversy surrounding the granting of waiver by NCC.
"Recall that the present management and board of directors of Mobitel took over formal control and management of the company on November 14, 2008 following the successful completion of the purchase of the whole of the shares and undertaking of company from its former shareholders pursuant to agreements, arrangements and understandings.
"one of the issues inherited by the new shareholders is the waiver of spectrum and operations fees amounting to N242,775,000 purportedly granted to the company by the NCC by its letter dated October 17, 2008. As you may be aware, this waiver has entailed vigorous interrogations of the company's directors by NCC at various times over last few weeks. In the course of these interrogations, EFCC has represented to the company's directors, inter alia, that NCC's grant of this "waiver" was irregular and ultra vires. Indeed, as of the evening of Monday June 22, the company had presented a draft dated same date for N48,000,000 as part refund thereof, based on pressures by the EFCC."
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