THE House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged loss of crude oil revenue has summoned the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Ezra Yakusak, over unremitted $1.67 billion.
The committee is investigating the alleged loss of over $2 billion in re
venue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export from 2015, including crude oil export from 2014.
Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Mark Gbilah, issued the summons in Abuja on Monday to provide the House with clarification on the status of payment of an outstanding debt to Nigeria, amounting to $1.67 billion.
He said the invitation was in light of the several borrowings of money despite the huge sum yet to be paid into the Nigeria treasury, which could have impacted the Nigeria economy.
The committee also re-invited a former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to know the status of the cases instituted regarding those who had cases to answer on the alleged loss of crude oil.
He said the committee also had some submission of alleged discrepancies in the document presented before it, adding that some of which had been sent to companies affected to respond.
“So, clerk, you do a letter to AGF to avail us the details of the approval for the engagement of the legal team and the related companies to carry out this investigation and provide us details of that legal team.
“In the letter, you request that the former AGF, former DG NIMASA also provide information on the status of this investigation, and they will be invited in line with the submission of the report.”
He said the committee would also require that the AGF provides it with the details of the investigation report.
He added that part of the allegation was that a detailed report indicating several discrepancies was provided to the federal government, but no action was taken.
He further said it sounded like an attempt to shield those allegedly pilfering the country’s resources while commending the court that got judgement in favour of NEPC.
He said the judgement was regarding the case against Atlantic Energy while also inviting Atlantic Energy and Building Concept for clarification.
On his part, the Director General Nigeria Maritime Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jsamo, said NIMASA’s mandate did not give it the power to sell or transport crude oil.
“But in 2013, when the revenue from the crude oil continued to dwindle, we coordinated data of actual lifting of crude oil.
“NIMASA was directed by the AGF to ensure that it coordinated a technical team to see how we can source data of the actual lifting of crude oil and the last destination point and see whether there are any discrepancies.
“At the end of the day, we saw such discrepancies, and we worked in conjunction with the legal team and from the findings, the legal team discovered ten companies liable.
He said the companies under-declared Nigeria’s crude oil, and cases were instituted against those companies, adding that most cases were still in court.
“One of the cases we won, and a directive was given by the court that $1.7 billion should be paid to the federal government.
According to him, NIMASA and the AGF continued to monitor the progress of the team of lawyers, and I have written to them requesting an update on such cases.
He said what it discovered was that even if NIMASA won the case, the affected companies would still go ahead to appeal, “and we are still pursuing those cases.”
He said some of the cases were not instituted in Nigeria but at the destination where such a criminal act was committed. (NAN)
