MTN faces Indian takeover

Report TONY IGBOKWE __________________________________________________ _______________

INDIA ’S top mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel said Monday it had launched “exploratory” talks with Africa ’s biggest cellular operator MTN Group, a move which could lead to a possible takeover offer.

The announcement followed media reports last month that Bharti, led by billionaire Founder-Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, was mulling a bid for the South Africa-based MTN.

MTN has 68.2 million subscribers in more than 20 countries. Its largest operations are in South Africa , Nigeria and Iran . Its 2007 turnover indicated that Nigeria is the MTN Group’s fastest growing and most profitable operation.

“Bharti Airtel Ltd has entered into an exploratory discussion with MTN Group Ltd, South Africa ,” Bharti said in a brief statement issued late yesterday.

“Current discussions are still at an early stage, are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction,” the company said.

Bharti Airtel is more than 30 percent owned by Singapore ’s SingTelNet.

A Bharti spokesman told AFP that the company had nothing further to add to its statement.

MTN’s shares have surged on media reports that Bharti might bid for the company, pushing its stock to record highs and giving the South African firm a market capitalisation of around 278 billion rand (37 billion dollars).

Under one possible scenario, Bharti could make a partial offer for a 51 per cent stake in MTN, allowing the South African group to keep its Johannesburg Stock Exchange listing, Britain ’s Financial Times reported earlier.

In a separate statement, MTN urged shareholders “to exercise caution when dealing in the company’s securities until a further announcement is made.”

The bid talk comes on the heels of a series of high-profile takeovers of foreign companies by cash-flush corporate India .

In March, India ’s top vehicle maker Tata Motors, part of the sprawling Tata Group, bought two of Britain ’s proudest car emblems, Jaguar and Land Rover, from struggling US carmaker Ford for 2.3 billion dollars.

“With MTN, Bharti would be present in more than 20 odd countries. They would become a global player — Bharti would be moving into the big league,” said an industry analyst close to the Indian firm who asked not to be named.

“Branching out makes sense because Bharti is already the top Indian player — the Indian game is done in that sense. Now is the time to look at the global market,” the analyst said.

Bharti, which controls 23.8 per cent of the Indian phone market, has 64 million clients, 62 million of them mobile subscribers.

It reported fourth-quarter net profit jumped 37 percent to 18.5 billion rupees (462 million dollars) from the same period a year ago. Full-year net profit to March 31 leapt 57 per cent to 67.01 billion rupees.

Bharti has been going from strength to strength in the Indian mobile market, the world’s fastest-growing which added a record 10.16 million cellular subscribers in March, taking India ’s total to 261.1 million.

It was unclear whether Bharti would have a clear run for MTN as rival Reliance Communications is reportedly also considering entering the fray. China Mobile and leading global mobile player Vodafone have also been mentioned.

The Financial Times earlier this month quoted Mittal as saying Bharti would have no trouble raising funds for a potential bid despite the global credit crunch.

Media reports have said MTN’s board would be reluctant to sell off 100 per cent of one of South Africa ’s top companies to a foreign buyer but could consider other ownership structures

Nigerian priest jailed for having sex with prison inmates

By Ike Nnamdi with Agency reports
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

A Nigerian Catholic priest, Vincent Inametti, 48, has been sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with two female inmates at Federal Medical Centre Carswell, United States .

U.S. District Judge Terry Means also ordered Inametti to pay $3,000 in fines and will be on supervised release for two years after completion of his jail term. Inametti was taken into custody after he was sentenced, in the city of the Forth Worth, Texas .

He had pleaded guilty to both counts when the charges were read to him in November. Also, he apologized to the court, government, medical centre, inmates, victims and God.
“I’m asking this morning for mercy,” he told the court.

Inametti’s journey to prison started after the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General received a complaint in March 2007 detailing sexual involvement between him and an inmate identified in documents as D.D., who was serving an 11-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

An investigation revealed another sexual involvement between Inametti and another inmate identified as E.R., who was serving a sentence of 12 years, and seven months for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.
According to reports, both inmates were under the “custodial, supervision, or disciplinary authority” of Inametti.

On or about February 18, 2006, Inametti invited D.D. to the chapel library for sex and in June or July 2006; he summoned E.R. to a classroom in the chapel for sex.
In sentencing Inametti, the judge used more blunt than legal terminology such as “sex abuse of a ward.”
Means said: “This is rape and this is sodomy.”

Inametti’s lack of criminal history suggested that he might get a sentence between 10 and 16 months. The statutory maximum is five years. But the judge said that the priest’s crimes were “surprisingly heinous” and that he had violated a twofold trust: as an employee of the federal prison and as a priest.
“For this, he will face a higher authority than this one,” Means said.

On Monday, the defence called two witnesses. They include an inmate at the medical centre, Tammi Allowitz. As a chaplain’s office worker, she was familiar with both victims. The one identified in court as E.R. “was in love with Father Inametti,” Allowitz said.

She described the situation as rival lovers fighting over one man. Prosecutor John Bradford asked Allowitz to give the basic information of her own sentence, which was 12 years and seven months for attempted murder for hire. In court documents, defence attorneys maintained that the sex was consensual and that a reasonable sentence would be lower than that suggested by federal guidelines.
Inametti is not part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. He was ordained in Nigeria .

He is a member of a Nigeria-based religious order called the Missionary Society of St. Paul. Before 2000, he served parishes in Eastland County as well as at Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, in Fort Worth . In 2000, at his request, he was given limited faculties to hear confessions and offer Mass in the prison.
These duties were taken away from him when diocesan officials learned of the federal investigation.

Inametti had many supporters in the audience, including three who spoke before the court. They said that his crimes were inconsistent with the majority of his life's work and that priests are merely men and susceptible to physical temptations.

Means, however, drew a distinction between ordinary mistakes and moral transgressions. In a classroom, he said, “a student who makes an error on a test has made a mistake. Someone who copies off another's paper, however, is cheating and has made a moral decision that goes beyond a simple mistake. What I see here is a moral transgression of great magnitude."

El-Rufai is a chronic liar

Written by Nasir Imam

Wednesday, 07 May 2008

Former Federal Capital Territory Minister Malam Nasir el-Rufai is "a manic-driven, chronic, unrepentant liar and a crook" for demolishing his wife’s property at Asokoro, Abuja on the pretext that it was sitting atop a water line, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman Dr. Ahmadu Ali said yesterday.

Conducting newsmen round the dug-up site which revealed the pipes, Ali said the house was built by his wife based on a Certificate of Occupancy issued to her in 1994, which was recertified by the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) over three years ago.

El-Rufai had said in an interview last week that there should be a 20 meter space between any water or sewer pipeline and a building in the FCT. He also said the former PDP Chairman had requested to dig up the ground in order to expose the pipe, and was given four weeks to do so but he never did.

Ali however said he had challenged the former minister to dig up the pipe, but that el-Rufai said he had a more scientific plan in place. He described the minister’s action

as "deliberate and malicious", meant to hurt his family, especially his wife’s Senatorial ambition at the time.

A statement yesterday from the Senior Special Assistant, Communications to the FCT Minister, Diran Onif-ade, said in February 2007, the Federal Capital Territory Authority [FCTA] revoked the C of O in respect of the said plot and in April, same year, it demolished one of the buildings, a block of 4 flats. In February 2008, the statement said, the current FCT Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar wrote to inform President YarÁdua of the intention of the FCTA to pull down the remaining structure on the plot, more so since cheques for compensation totaling over N68 million had been collected by owners of the buildings.

It further stated that Dr. Ali however protested to President Yar’dua, insisting that the building was not on a water line as claimed by the FCTA, a situation which prompted the Minister to order a further investigation of the case, including the physical excavation of the pipeline sites.

"This revealed that Plot 1613 was indeed not sitting on a water line and therefore the earlier demolition on the plot was done in error. The remaining building was consequently spared," the statement said


Panel Orders Soludo To Refund $462m
From SULE AMUDA, Abuja

The probe panel investigating the controversial $462 million investment in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), has ordered the embattled governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo to withdraw the money from AFC account and have it transferred into an escrow account.
National Mirror gathered that the panel gave the directive in order not to have the money tampered with by CBN or AFC officials.
The panel was headed by Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, the director of operations of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
It was further gathered that Soludo, during his appearance before the panel last Wednesday, craved the indulgence of the panel members to direct the CBN and AFC officials present to leave the venue of the sitting.
After their exit, Soludo reportedly went on his kneels, appealing to the panel members which include a former Director- General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. B.B.A. Verr; the Director, Economic Affairs, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Muhammed Garba; the Director, Consolidated Accounts of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. E. Oshibote and representative of Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Pius Oteh, saying that “he is a young man, and as a young man, he could make mistakes.”
National Mirror source disclosed that business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has pulled out of the AFC. Stressing in his letter to CBN governor that he was never a part of the AFC and further noted that he told the CBN officials even when they offered to pay the $50 million equity to him.
The controversial money was allegedly paid into AFC in November 2007, six months after President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had been sworn in without the approval of the National Assembly and the authorisation of the president.
Meanwhile, fresh facts emerged Monday on how the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo, illegally transferred part of the country's $462million investment in the African Finance Corporation (AFC), through the New York branch of a popular Nigerian Commercial bank.
Sahara Reporters noted that the commercial bank (name withheld) has since been fined $15million for failure to report such suspicious transactions to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) and the Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC).
The US governnment's investigator who probed the issue confirmed that the said bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act (BSC).
According to one of the investigators who pleaded anonymity to Sahara Reporters, “the money was assessed to be close to $300 million”
The source said the money was used in short term investments in New York for businesses that were unrelated with that of the stated mission of AFC and the proceeds might have gone into private bank accounts.
We learnt that the transaction came directly from the CBN account of the AFC of which Soludo is the chairman.
Other directors of the crisi-s ridden AFC include: major bank Chief Executive Officers and Nigeria's economic prime movers as Tony Elumelu (UBA), Jim Ovia (Zenith), Aliko Dangote (Dangote Group), Femi Otedola (Zenon Oil) and Cecilia Ibru (Oceanic Bank). Others are: Mr. Austine O. Ometoruwa, President and Chief Executive Officer Africa Finance Corporation, Mr. Ebong Bassey (Union Bank), Mr. Erastus Akingbola, (Intercontinental Bank Plc ). Also included are : Mr. Tunde Lemo Deputy Governor, FSS, Central Bank of Nigeria , Mr. Oye Hassan-Odukale, (Leadway Assurance Co. Ltd), Mr. Lewis Tung, (Wempco Group) and Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Honourable Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance.
These banks are supposed to be under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria .
Two African countries, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone are also members.