More sordid information on the alleged sale of about 48 million barrels of stolen crude oil in China and loss of about $2.4 billion by Nigeria have emerged.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the unwholesome deal, said a petition before the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) showed that the Federal Government paid $200 million to two companies as consultancy fee without due process.
The Mark Gbillah-led committee also claimed that the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation were not cooperating with it in the course of the investigation.
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Gbillah, at the resumed hearing of the committee, in Abuja yesterday, said the petition before the NFIU was written by a whistleblower.
He argued that there is no record of any agreement entered into by the government with the two firms that received the $200m consultancy fee.
Gbillah requested the Attorney-General of the Federal Abubakar Malami and his Finace, Budget and National Planning Minister Zainab Ahmed, to honour the committee’s invitations to shed light on what the government has, so far, earned through whistleblowers and how much it has spent.
Although he did not set a date for them to appear, he warned that the committee might invoke necessary powers of the National Assembly to cause their appearance.
The chairman also alleged that monies recovered through whistleblower information were being spent by the government without going through normal channel of appropriation.
He also said that even though the government was operating the whistleblower policy, there was no law guiding its application. But Gbillah assured that the House hoped to pass a bill that will take care of the operation of the policy.
The chairman also alleged that monies recovered through whistleblower information were being spent by the government without going through normal channel of appropriation.
He also said that even though the government was operating the whistleblower policy, there was no law guiding its application. But Gbillah assured that the House hoped to pass a bill that will take care of the operation of the policy.
His words: “We have not been getting any form of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance and Attorney- General’s office regarding this investigation despite a series of correspondences sent to them on this matters that we are investigating.
“We’ve seen documentations from the Accountant -General’s office, where the Minister Finance approved the payment of substantial significant amount of money to so-called whistle blowers where details of monies recovered were not provided.
“We’ve had media reports by the Federal Government indicating that millions of dollars were recovered through whistle blower revelations on behalf of the country.
‘But as a parliament, we have not seen where those monies were routed through the constitutional appropriation process before they were expended. The 1999 Constitution is very clear about the receipt and expenditure of Nigeria’s money.
“We’ve looked at the functions of the Attorney- General’s office and we’ve not seen any statutory powers provided for the Attorney -General by the Constitution to determine how Nigeria’s money should be spent.
“There was an incident about a whistle blower who made a formal report to Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about $200m paid into two companies account- Biz Plus, and GSCL – allegedly for consultancy services and allegedly approved through the Attorney -General’s office by Mr President.
“We need the Minister of Finance and the Attorney -General of the Federation to appear before this House to provide clarity on the inflows that have come in from whistle blowers’ recoveries, and about these monies that were recovered.
“The CBN is required to provide information that has been provided by these whistle blowers about substantial amounts of monies that were paid supposedly and allegedly for consultancy services when there’s no record of any agreement entered into by those companies regarding any services.
“These are very weighty allegations and as a responsible House, we owe everybody fair hearing and benefit of the doubt. This is what we’ve been seeking to accord those who have been mentioned in these allegations.
“But we find it unbelievable that the Minister of Finance and Attorney -General of the Federation have not bothered to respond to any of the correspondences from the committee and this, in our opinion, shows a lack of regard not only to the institution of the House, but that of the National Assembly as a whole.
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“We will make this further appeal to the Minister of Finance and the Attorney- General of the Federation and all others who have not responded or who have not honoured this committee’s invitations to do so in national interest.
“In the event that they fail to do so, we will be constrained to invoke the instrument of summons and all other necessary powers the National Assembly can exercise in this regard.
“But we want to make this a formal and final notice to those concerned, the Minister of Finance and the Attorney- General of the Federation to cause appearance before the committee to give evidence with regard to the allegations that have been laid with regard to the questions the committee has requested for them to answer and to respond to.”
The Nation
