The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the Refined
Product Exchange Agreement/Crude Oil Swap between the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation/Petroleum Pipelines Marketing Companies
(NNPC/PPMC) has summoned the former Minister of Petroleum Resources,
Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to explain her role in the award of
contracts worth $24billion without valid agreements signed with the
befitting companies.
Three former Group Managing Directors (GMDs) of the NNPC, Mr. Austin
Oniwon, Mr. Andrew Yakubu and Mr. Joseph Dawha, who appeared before the
committee last week, indicted the former minister, accusing her of
extending the oil swap contracts for Duke Oil Company Incorporated and
Trafigura B.V, without valid agreements.
The contracts for both firms had expired in October 2011, but they had
continued to lift crude without formal contract extension for 20 months,
lifting crude worth $24billion.
The contracts were formalised in December 2014 and backdated to cover the period from when they earlier expired.
The Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Hon. Zakari Mohammed (Kwara APC)
in a telephone interview with THISDAY disclosed that the former minister
would be invited by the committee.
“The former oil minister’s invitation will definitely go to her
tomorrow (Monday). We are going to invite her, because contracts expired
for 20 months, there was no renewal of contract, but the GMDs wrote to
her, and she, on her own, approved the contracts,” he said.
It remains unclear how the former minister would be expected to honour
the invitation following reports of her arrest in the United Kingdom,
where her passport was also seized as part of her bail conditions.
Mohammed however explained that her not being able to appear is not a
matter for the commitee, which has to have it on record that she was
informed “that we need her attention…if we are now saying she will not
show up, that is a matter of speculation.”
The lawmaker however debunked insinuations that the probe was targeted
at the former minister, insisting that the House is determined to avoid a
repeat of the sort of happenings that have been revealed in the course
of the oil swap deals investigation.
“We need to know where she got her authority from, especially knowing
fully well that the threshold of a minister is N100million, and these
transactions were above N100million, so they ought to have gone the
Federal Executive Council. These are the issues under which context we
would invite her,” Mohammed added.
Speaking further, Mohammed disclosed that the Committee has directed
Trafigura B/V to furnish it with its tax status in Amsterdam where the
firm is registered.
Trafigura, between 2010 and 2014 lifted 12.5 million Metric tonnes of
crude as part of the deal, but never remitted a kobo as tax to the
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). It’s Managing Director, Mr. James
Juslin had told the committee that his company is not required to pay
tax in Nigeria, as an international company, with no representatives in
Nigeria.
“We are determined to ensure that every Naira and Kobo owed to the
Nigerian government by Trafigura and erring companies, are recovered. We
have written to them (Trafigura) to tell us their tax status in Holland
where they are registered, and they replied that it is taking them time
to get it. We have given them the next four to five weeks, and we told
them if there is no reply by then, we would presume their status,”
Mohammed told THISDAY.
The investigations continue as the former Managing Director of the
PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh is expected to appear before the committee next
week tomorrow.
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