EFCC Recovers N329bn from Oil Marketers

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.

Source: Punch