The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says its Kano
Office has recovered N328,988,296,990.62 from nine major oil marketers across
the country.
The marketers include Conoil Plc, Total Plc, OVH Energy Plc,
Oando Plc, Forte Oil and Gas Plc, Mobil Plc, MRS Oil Plc, NIPCO Oil Plc and
other retailers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The EFCC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren,
said the recovery was sequel to a petition against the leadership of the NNPC
and its subsidiary, the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company.
The petitioner alleged that N40bn had been diverted by the
major oil marketers in connivance with the leadership of the NNPC and the PPMC.
The anti-graft agency subsequently referred the petition to
a special task force which swung into action by conducting discreet
investigations.
It stated that the probe revealed that the diverted money
was actually N349bn and not N40bn.
The statement read in part, “Findings by the operatives of
the EFCC revealed that the oil marketers were actually indebted to the Federal
Government to the tune of N91,519,485,204 between 2010 and 2016.
“Further investigations into the allegation also revealed
that the oil marketers had continued to obtain petroleum products from the
government without proper payment in violation of the NNPC/PPMC credit facility
regulations; a probe of which further led to the discovery of N258,928,926,351.93.
“Following the latter discovery, the total amount of debt
stands at N349,818,411,556.37.”
The commission said upon the conclusion of the preliminary
investigation, officials of the NNPC/PPMC and all the managing directors of the
concerned companies were invited to the Kano Zonal Office of the commission,
where their statements were recorded following which the recovery process
commenced.
The EFCC added that so far, a sum of N328,988,296,990.62 had
been recovered from the major oil marketers.
“The outstanding debt now stands at N20,765,919,869.48,” the
anti-graft agency stated.
PUNCH
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