Chief executive officers of all major and independent companies in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry have been summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the ongoing probe into the alleged multi-million naira scam in the fuel subsidy regime gathers momentum.
The oil magnates have been asked to report at the commission’s head office in Abuja as from today, to explain transactions of their respective companies in the importation and supply of petroleum products, and payments received as subsidy.
They are to appear in batches before a crack team of anti-fraud detectives specially empanelled by the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde and have been requested to make available necessary documents and other supporting evidence in respect of all transactions.
Acting spokesman of the commission, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the development but did not give further details. It was, however, learnt that the invitation to the marketers, which came sooner than expected, was sequel to the recovery of stunning documents during a recent raid by operatives of the EFCC of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) offices in Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan had directed a probe into the subsidy regime following public outcry, which trailed the Senate revelation of names of the beneficiaries of fuel subsidy totalling N3.655 trillion between 2006 and 2011. An alarming sum of N1.426 trillion was also said to have been spent on subsidy between January and August last year alone.
The Senator Magnus Abe-led Senate ad-hoc committee probing the management of fuel subsidy regime had last month, listed the beneficiary companies and amount of money received last year.
These included Oando Nigeria Plc, N228.506 billion; Integrated Oil and Gas Plc, N30 billion; MRS, N224.818 billion; A. A. Rano, N1.14 billion; A-Z Petroleum, N18.61 billion; A.S.B, N3.16 billion; Arcon Plc, N24.116 billion; African Petroleum, N104.58 billion; Aminu Resources, N2.3 billion; Capital Oil, N22.4 billion; Con Oil, N37.96 billion; Avante Guard, N1.14 billion; Avido, N3.64 billion; Boffas and Company, N3.67 billion; and Brilla Energy, N960.3 million.
Others were D. Jones Petroleum, N14.86 billion; DownStream Energy, N789.648 million; Dosil Oil and Gas, N3.375 billion; Inco Ray, N1.988 billion; Eternal, N5.574 billion; Folawiyo Energy, N113.32 billion; Frado International, N2.63 billion; First Deepwater Oil, N257.396 million; Heden Petrol, N693 million; Honeywell Petrol, N12.2 billion; AMP, N11.417 billion; Ascon, N5.271 billion; Channel Oil, N1.308 billion; Fort Oil, N8.582 billion; Enak Oil & Gas, N19.684 billion; Bovas & Co. Nig Ltd, N5.685 billion; and Obat Oil N85 billion. Also named were AP, N104.5 billion; IPMAN Investment Limited, N10.9 billion; ACON, N24.1 billion; Atio Oil, N64.4 billion; AMP, N11.4 billion; and Emac Oil, N19.2 billion.
The Senate committee’s probe further showed that in 2006, only MRS, Total and Oando were listed as beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy recognised by the Federal Government. The three companies were said to have been listed as “major marketers”, but were joined in 2007 by AP and Mobil in that category.
In the same year, NIPCO was introduced and listed under the category of petrol depot owners, with the introduction of a new category of independent marketers, which included some of those without depots. AITEO Energy Resources and Triquest Energy were added in 2007, bringing the total to eight beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy. The list of subsidy beneficiaries rose to 23 in 2008, including six major marketers.
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