Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum are expected to appear before the Adhoc Committee on the review of petroleum pump price on Monday, 7th April, 2017 over the alleged diversion of multi-million dollar forex diverted by some oil marketers between 2016 and 2017.
Also expected to appear before the Adhoc Committee are: Ibok-Ete Ekwe, Chief of Naval Staff; Chief Executive Officers of two deposit banks (Keystone and Zenith) who were involved in the allocation of the forex to the oil marketers.
Specifically, Nnanna Igbokwe, chairman of the Adhoc Committee who presided over the investigative hearing on Thursday, mandated Ibrahim Idris, Inspector General of Police and Comptroller General of Immigration to determine the whereabouts of Andrew Alagu, Managing Director of HAR Petroleum Resources Limited by March 27th 2017, over alleged diversion of $26 million accessed for importation of premium motor spirit (PMS) under the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Igbokwe (PDP-Imo) who disregarded the letter written by the company that it did not engage in product importation at anytime and therefore couldn’t have sourced for and accessed forex from the CBN, explained that the documents provided by Crude Oil Marketing Department confirmed the company’s participation.
“We have it on good authority that in 2014, your company applied and got over $11 million, and in 2015, it got another forex over $14 million from Zenith bank for the importation of petroleum products into this country, and you now sit here and deny ever engaging in product importation or any of such transaction with the NNPC retail outfits?
‘Where did the $26 million you took in forex from the bank according to CBN records go to?” Igbokwe queried.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Jefferson Ogunma who disclosed that Andrew Alagu was away on official assignment outside the country, argued that the company only handled logistical activities on behalf of Total Nigeria plc.
To this end, Igbokwe mandated National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arm and Police Attachee to take the company’s representative for further questioning.
The chairman also mandated Gregory Enahoro, Managing Director of Nice Bridge Petroleum Limited to give helpful information to the Sergeant-at-Arm and Police Attachee on the sum of $9.6 million forex received through Keystone and Zenith Bank accounts.
Meanwhile, the Adhoc committee directed management team of Total Nigeria to provide necessary documents on the level of indebtedness to Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) allegedly worth N2.1 billion and substantiate its claim that NNPC lacks requisite record to reconcile with the company.
He ruled that 33,000MT of crude allegedly lifted by C-Frontier through the oil company is hereby put under further investigation pending clarification of issues trailing the transaction.
Likewise, Igbokwe alleged that $234,951,113.44 worth of crude oil lifted by the company is also placed under further investigation.
The Adhoc Committee also summoned Managing Director of Bulk Strategies over alleged diversion of multi-million dollar forex allocated to the company for importation of petroleum products within the period under review.
