Mr Holder stepped down from his position as Attorney General in April to return to corporate practice at Washington, DC-based law firm Covington and Burling. Now, it has emerged that Mr Holder made an initial visit to Abuja last month to negotiate with Nigerian officials on behalf of embattled South African telecom giant MTN Group, which is facing a massive $3.9bn fine from the NCC. According to sources close to the negotiations, MTN hopes to 'inject some balance into the equation' by sending someone of Mr Holder's experience and stature into the ring with the Nigerian officials.

Staggering fine

MTN Group has been handed the fine by the NCC over its failure to disconnect unregistered mobile phone subscribers, amid concerns that the continued circulation of unregistered SIM cards in the country helps sustain communication between Nigeria's various criminal and terrorist groups. Originally set at $5.2bn, the gargantuan penalty was calculated as 200,000 naira for each of MTN's 5.1 million unregistered subscribers in Nigeria and would have been equivalent to around 22 per cent of Nigeria's annual budget. Though officials have since brought the fine down by 25 per cent, it remains a massive penalty and eclipses the $2.65bn profit reported by MTN last year. 

Unrivalled experience 

Serving as US Attorney General between 2009 and 2015, Mr Holder oversaw some of the biggest corporate settlements in US history. These included the $13bn settlement paid by JPMorgan Chase over its selling of mortgage backed securities, as well as the record-breaking $18bn fine handed to BP after the Horizon oil spill. Now, it appears that MTN are betting on Mr Holder's exceptional history as a government official dealing with embattled corporates to give him the edge in challenging MTN's own fine from the other side of the negotiation table. The company has been given until 18 March to try to reach a settlement. Sources: Financial Times; AfricaNews