Tribunal Slams MultiChoice N25m Fine For Violating Its Order
The three-member tribunal, headed by Thomas Okosun in a ruling, held that having been found culpable of breaching its order; the company was liable to pay the penalty.
“The 1st defendant (MultiChoice) is in contempt of this tribunal. So we have reviewed the position of Section 51(3) of FCCPC Act, 2018 and in compliance with the provision of Subsection 2 of the same Section 51, we hereby order the 1st defendant, MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd, to pay the sum of N25 million only as administrative penalty for contempt of this honourable tribunal,” Okosun declared.
Shortly after the ruling, counsel for MultiChoice, Jamiu Agoro, however, pleaded for a date to hear his motion which, he said, was not due for hearing, but the tribunal declined to grant his plea.
“Until we are informed by the registry of your motion and once it is brought to our notice, if it is necessary, it will be heard,” he said.
The tribunal had, earlier, disagreed with MultiChoice over a notice of appeal the company brought to stay execution of the panel’s judgment. The tribunal rejected the request by counsel for the firm, Jamiu Agoro, to hear his notice of appeal seeking an order of the panel staying execution of its judgment delivered on Tuesday pending the hearing and determination of the appeal before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
Agoro, upon resumed of the proceedings, had informed that after the company reviewed the tribunal’s judgment delivered, the firm decided to appeal the said decision.
He said two applications were filed and “one is an application seeking for staying of execution.” He, however, said that though an appeal had been filed, MultiChoice was already taking steps to comply with the judgment, directing its Managing Director, John Ugbe, and directors to appear with the 2021 audited financial report on Sept. 8 (yesterday).
The lawyer explained that there was no management staff of the company in Abuja at present that could have brought the report.
“Given our motion for stay of execution which has been served on all parties, we pray that you set the motion down for hearing for the tribunal to look at our application if it is meritorious or not,” he said.
But the tribunal disagreed with Agoro, saying the business of the day was for the company’s management to appear before it with the audited report. Besides, the panel said there was no motion on appeal before it.
“You know the law counsel. First, those papers are not with us. The only reason we are here this morning is to make a pronouncement on the penalty the 1st defendant (MultiChoice) is to pay. It is your right to appeal. The only point I took from you is that you don’t have your details here, rather than raising issues of appeal,” Okosun said.
The tribunal then stood down the matter to take its decision.
Meanwhile, the tribunal, had, on Tuesday, delivered its judgment in a suit filed by a lawyer, Festus Onifade and Coalition of Nigeria Consumers, on behalf of himself and others.
The claimants had sued MultiChoice and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as 1st and 2nd respondents, shortly after the company, on March 22, announced its plan to increase the price of its products from April 1.
The claimants prayed to the tribunal for an order, restraining the firm from increasing its services and other products on April 1, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated and filed on March 30.
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