Bitten by heavy penalty imposed by the Nigerian government, MTN Nigeria has questioned the legality of paying corporate tax on a 330 billion naira ($1.1 billion) fine before a Nigerian tax tribunal It may be recalled that MTN Nigeria, a part of South Africa's MTN Group, was fined 1.04 trillion naira originally for failing to deactivate more than 5 million unregistered SIM cards. However, it negotiated for a reduced fine to make it eligible for listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a few months ago. MTN Nigeria requested for the judicial review after the Nigerian tax authority- the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)- disagreed on the accounting treatment of the fine. The company treated it as an operating cost. The prayer of MTN Nigeria before the tax tribunal is to treat the fine as an operating cost, presumably for reflecting it in the profit and loss account.