The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, struck out the criminal charge filed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and its top officials.
Justice Hauwa Yilwa struck out the suit, in a ruling, following an application for the withdrawal of the case by FCCPC’s lawyer, I. O. Aiaba.
Earlier upon resumed hearing on Thursday, Aiaba told the court that a notice of withdrawal was filed on Sept. 8.
The lawyer told the judge that the application was brought under Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
He said the prosecution adopted the notice and prayed that the court strike out the charge.
However, no lawyer appeared for the defendants and the defendants were also not in court for the trial.
Justice Yilwa consequently struck out the suit after the lawyer’s application.
MTN Nigeria; its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), Mr Karl Toriola, and other co-defendants were being prosecuted by FCCPC over allegations bordering on breach of the commission’s Act.
FCCPC had sued the MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Toriola as 1st and 2nd defendants.
The commission also named Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, and Ikenna Ikeme, General Manager, Regulatory Affairs of MTN as 3rd and 4th defendants respectively.
In the two-count charge, they were accused of failure to produce documents and information required by the commission in compliance with a lawful summons contrary to the FCCPC Act.
The charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/354/2024, was dated July 19, 2024, and filed July 22, 2024 by a team of lawyers led by Akoji Achimugu.
It would be recalled that the FCCPC, through its lawyer, Nsitem Chizenum, had, in one of the settings, accused the MTN CEO and his co-defendants of evading service of court documents on them.
Chizenum had told the court, following the absence of the defendants in court.
He said several efforts made to effect the service of the processes on the defendants were unsuccessful
The lawyer also told the court that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had been involved and that their application was being processed by the NPF with a view to produce the defendants in court.
The matter was fixed for May 28 for the defendants to take their plea.
But when the matter was called, none of the defendants was in court.
In count one, the MTN Nigeria Communications PLC, Toriola, Okigbo and Ikeme were alleged to have on or about June 18, 2024 did without sufficient cause failed to produce documents and or information which they were required to produce, “in compliance with a lawful Summons and Request to Produce dated May 17, 2024.”
The commission alleged that the compliance with same summon was further extended by a letter dated June 5, 2024 and they thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 33 (3) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
The offence, according to the prosecution, contravenes the provisions of Section 111 (1) of the FCCP Act, 2018, and punishable under Section 111 (2) of the same act.
