Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), trading as 9mobile has said it was neither a party to any suit nor affected by an order of a court to pay N55bn debt to Keystone Bank.
The telecommunication operator in Nigeria was reacting to media publications dated Friday 19, July 2024 with the same copious headline, โCourt orders 9mobile to pay N55bn debt to Keystone Bank.โ
A statement by the management of 9mobile reads:
Management of 9mobile wishes to informย theย concerned publicย and critical stakeholders that, contrary to this misleading headline, Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), trading as 9mobile was neither a party to any suit nor affected by the order said to have been made against it as an entityโ.
The company denied said story, stressing that โit is not only false but also defamatory in its effect on the 9mobile corporate reputationโ.
The statement continues: โIf the correspondents who filed the obviously syndicated news stories were anywhere near the court room during the proceedings leading to the issuance of the said order, they would have known that at no point was 9mobile a party to the suit in question. Rather, the action was appropriately classified and filed as, โKeystone Bank v. Teleology Nigeria Limited.โ
โFor the avoidance of doubt, no judgment was made against 9mobile and the attempt to link our corporate entity with a transaction by our minority shareholder, Teleologyย Nigeria Limited in its legal tussle with Keystone Bank, is false and maliciously misleadingโ.
โ9mobile is under new ownership with aย 95.5 % controlling stake in the business and has not been found liable for the action of its minority shareholder in the suit in question.
โOur business transformation programme has commenced and we are poised to reclaim our place in the marketโ.