The hefty R1.32-billion that MTN paid advisers to help it settle a massive fine in Nigeria raised eyebrows at its results presentation on Friday. While the negotiations resulted in the $3.9-billion (about R53.7-billion) fine being reduced to $1.7-billion, questions as to whether this figure could be justified were raised at the interim results presentation.Executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko said the eight-month negotiations required a wide range of legal advisers from South Africa, Nigeria and the US. " You have to look at it in context and what it really means in terms of the outcomes."After MTN was slapped with the fine in September last year for failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers, the group hired Eric Holder, US attorney-general from 2009 to 2015. Holder had overseen large corporate settlements in the US, including BP's $18-billion fine for the Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and JPMorgan Chase's $13-billion settlement with the US government for its mortgage lending practices.story_article_left1Dominic Cull, a specialist lawyer at Ellipsis, said given the enormity of the fine and the conditions under which it was reduced, the amount spent on professional services was not unreasonable. "My initial reaction is that it's a ridiculously large amount and it's difficult to justify but , given what was at stake and the outcome, they probably feel justified in paying that much."The rand amount of the potential fine was more than that. That doesn't even begin to factor in the cost of the reputational damage which they would have been trying to limit."Sasha Naryshkine, an analyst at Vestact, said when compared to the money saved, the amount spent on professional services was completely justified. "People were being paid for their time. You also had one of the most powerful legal public servants in the world at one time. I don't think that comes cheap."MTN , which in June made the first of six instalments towards settling the fine in Nigeria, has seen its subscriber numbers shrink there. It has disconnected 18million subscribers since September last year, a 3.7% decline.Despite the weak results, which showed a R4.9-billion headline loss against earnings of almost R12-billion a year earlier, Nhleko said he remained optimistic about prospects in emerging markets. "There are bright lights ... Countries like Uganda, Cameroon and Ivory Coast continue to grow quite substantially."..