Forex scam: Reps to drag NNPC officials to EFCC

As oil firm denies receiving $26.486m forex
ABUJA— THE House of Representatives Ad-Hoc
Committee on the Review of Price of Petroleum
Products has threatened to drag officials of Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged
foreign exchange scam within the sector.
This is even as some oil companies which names
appeared on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, list as
those that accessed forex for oil activities have denied
having collected such monies.
But Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Raphael Nnanna
Igbokwe, has threatened that the committee would get
to the root of the matter to determine the level of
involvement of officials of NNPC in the alleged foreign
exchange manipulation.
Recall that two CBN directors were arrested last week
by the EFCC over alleged manipulation of forex
allocation.
Already, the committee has summoned Minister of State
for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice
Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; CBN Governor, Godwin
Emefiele, to appear at the investigative hearing on Friday
to explain, among other things, alleged discrepancies in
the documents submitted by the CBN and most of the
oil marketers and their agencies.
Oil firm denies receiving $26.486m forex
In a letter dated March 13, 2017, the committee alleged
that one of the indicted companies, H. A. R Petroleum
Services Limited, obtained forex worth $11,878,471.67
at the bid rate of 160.01 for importation of PMS in
January 2015 and an additional sum of $14,607,992.69
at the bid rate of 310 for importation of PMS in June
2016.
But responding, Andrew Haladu, a Director of H. A. R
Petroleum Services Limited, denied the receipt of the
forex from the apex bank, explaining that it handled
logistics related services and never participated in
importation of petroleum products.
He said: “Please note that H.A.R Petroleum Services
Limited is primarily involved in the provisions of logistics
support for bulk supplies belonging to select majors and
Independent who are clients.”
“H.A.R petroleum services limited acts in an agency
capacity to its clients for the sourcing and delivery of
bulk supplies to nominated facilities as instructed by
same clients. We undertake all logistics related to
ensuring that the Daughter vessel of the client is berthed
and discharged to their nominated facility with strict
adherence to the requirements of security and regulatory
agencies present at the seaport.
“We as a company, at no time, have had cause to
purchase Gasoline from NNPC Retail, PPMC or any other
source, neither have we at any time approached or
received authority to import Gasoline into Nigeria from
the Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, of the
Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR. In like
manner, we could not, therefore, have received forex
from CBN for gasoline.
“In regards to the documents requested, we are
unfortunately unable to provide these, as these
documents would be in custody of our clients, who have
imported the cargoes you seek clarity. For the
transactions specifically mentioned in your letter, these
would seem to both be Gasoline imports of Total Nigeria
PLC for which we handled the logistics of managing the
supply to their facilities.”
Worried by the failure of the company’s Chief Executive
Officer to appear before the adhoc committee, Igbokwe
had last week, asked the Inspector General of Police and
Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration Service,
NIS, to determine the whereabouts of the official and
ensure his appearance on Friday, April 7, 2017.