MTN N1.4trn fine: FG calls MTN’s bluff, says Dec 31 deadline subsists

LAGOS — The Federal Government, yesterday, said it would neither be cowed nor threatened by MTN’s court action against the N1.4trn fine which was later reduced to N780 billion, insisting that the telecommunications company risks another fine if it fails to pay on deadline.

Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, made the statement yesterday in reaction to the suit instituted by the telecom operator at a Lagos High Court, weekend.

Court rules South Africa Airways legal note can stay public

The High Court in Johannesburg on Thursday set aside a gagging order obtained by South African Airways (SAA) against media houses, saying the public interest outweighed the cash-strapped airline’s right to keep a damning internal legal opinion under wraps.
The judgment is a boost for media freedom, saying that the public interest may override even legitimate claims of confidentiality and that attorney-client privilege does not apply to information already in the public domain.

 

SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said it was too early to say whether the airline would appeal. But SAA officials were studying the judgment to "properly understand" its implications if it were to be "left unchallenged".
The airline obtained an interim interdict against Media24, Moneyweb and BDFM Publishers — which publishes Business Day — in the early hours of November 24.
The court had ordered that the media houses could not publish the contents of a legal opinion from SAA’s internal legal counsel, Ursula Fikelepi, to the board.