The house of representatives committee investigating the
alleged missing 48 million barrels of Bonny Light crude has summoned Godwin
Emiefele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to provide details on
the N32.5 billion paid to two companies — Messrs GSCL Consulting and Bizplus —
without formal records.
The lower chamber is also investigating an alleged payment
of $200 million to the firms for “consultancy service”.
The committee also invited the former managing director of
the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the auditor-general of the
federation, the accountant-general of the federation, the minister of foreign
affairs, managing directors of Exxon Mobil, Nigeria Agip Oil company, and
others.
Speaking at the investigative hearing on Monday, Mark
Gbillah, chairman of the ad hoc committee, said available records showed that
the CBN paid N16.5 billion to each of two the companies on the same day.
Gbillah added that the amount was withdrawn by the companies
within two months.
The lawmaker said it was important for Nigerians to know why
the apex bank paid the said amount to the companies, especially when Abubakar
Malami, attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, denied
knowledge of the payments.
Gbillah also expressed displeasure over the failure of Shell
Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to provide answers to the questions the
committee had sent to the energy firm over a lack of clarity.
‘$1.7 BILLION JUDGEMENT SUM YET TO BE
RECOVERED SINCE 2020’
On the $1.7 billion judgement sum yet to be recovered by the
government, Gbillah said there exist about nine other cases with regard to the
alleged theft of Nigerian crude.
“This issue is not in our imagination. There is a formal
legal judgment on this issue and there are cases still pending with regard to
Nigerian crude, ” he said.
“I call on the Bola Tinubu administration, relevant
stakeholders, and the anti-graft agencies, to realise that Nigerians are
waiting for an explanation regarding why the $1.7 billion has not been
recovered from Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept with regard to the judgment
against them since 2020.
“This is money that
belongs to all Nigerians, and we expect that it should be appropriately
accounted for.”
The legislator also said all the companies and agencies
summoned by the committee over the matter have a duty to respond to the
summons.
He chided one Igo Weli, SPDC’s representative, for the
company’s lack of due diligence and for what the lawmakers described as “an
attempt to frustrate the work of the committee”.
Seething with disappointment, Gbillah said being a leader in
the industry, Shell could not claim ignorance of the issue when others had
responded to the same enquiries.
Still, the Shell team, during the proceedings, failed to
inform the committee when the oil conglomerate would answer the lawmakers’
questions.
Therefore, Gbillah ruled that the committee would make its
recommendation to guide the 10th national assembly in dealing with the issues.
’10 CASES OF CRUDE
OIL THEFT STILL IN COURTS OUTSIDE NIGERIA’
Meanwhile, speaking on the $1.7 billion judgement sum,
Bashir Jamoh, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency (NIMASA), said the money was still outstanding for the federal
government to claim from a company that was found guilty of making a false
declaration about the crude oil it took from the country.
“In 2013, when the
revenue profile was low, NIMASA was directed by the attorney-general’s office
to coordinate two technical teams to source data on the actual lifting of crude
oil and the last destination point, to see if there were discrepancies,” Jamoh
told the committee.
“We discovered some discrepancies and worked with the legal
team to look into the findings. From the findings, the legal team again
discovered 10 companies liable for under-declaration. We instituted cases
against those companies.
“Most of the cases
are still in court. We won one of those cases and a directive was given by the
court that $1.7 billion be paid to the government.
“NIMASA and the attorney-general’s office continued to
monitor the team of lawyers. In January this year, I wrote to them, requesting
an update on the cases in court. What we discovered was that some cases were on
appeal. For such cases, the legal team is working on that while still following
up on the ones still at the lower court.
“These cases are not instituted in Nigeria, but the
destination where the criminal acts were committed.
“The straight answer is that these cases are still in court
and we have those that have not reached the stage of appeal yet. It is not only
NIMASA and the attorney-general’s office that are interested in this matter.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is also
interested because I know that they have been going about to investigate and
make sure that the companies involved are brought to book.”
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