Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, on Thursday denied involvement in any illegal transfer of funds out of Nigeria by MTN.

The minister in a statement signed by Greyne Anosike, Director of Press in the Ministry, said that he was never the owner or a shareholder of Celtelecom as alleged by the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Dino Melaye.

Melaye had in a motion on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, alleged that MTN illegally transferred $13.9bn out of Nigeria with the help of the minister.

The Senate consequently moved a motion that an investigation be launched into the alleged illegal transfer of funds.

But the minister in the statement said: “Dr. Enelamah served as the CEO of Capital Alliance Nigeria Limited, CANL, between 1998 and 2015.

“CANL is a wholly owned subsidiary of African Capital Alliance “ACA”, an Africa focused private equity firm with investments in carefully selected companies within and outside Nigeria, including MTN Nigeria.

“Dr Enelamah was never the “owner” of Celtelecom as alleged by the Senator; neither was he ever a Celtelecom shareholder. Instead he was a director of the company, representing the ACA managed fund.

“Investors do not have responsibility for remittance of proceeds from the company they invest in. Therefore, at no time was Dr. Enelamah in a position to transfer funds out of Nigeria on behalf of MTN Nigeria, and at no time did Dr. Enelamah transfer any funds out of Nigeria on behalf of MTN Nigeria.

The statement pointed out that the minister “resigned all his board positions, including from ACA and Celtelecom, consequent to his appointment as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Enalamah said he welcomes “any investigations the Senate may decide to carry out on the activities of these companies”; he however maintained that “the allegations as made by the Senator are without merit and baseless.”

Also, MTN’s chief executive, Ferdi Moolman, described Melaye’s accusations as “completely unfounded and without any merit.”

Dino Melaye’s motion stated that Stanbic IBTC bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citigroup and Diamond Bank were involved in the alleged illegal transfers.