EFCC to probe alleged missing $20bn oil revenue

Posted by admin EFCC Politics, Headlines, Oil Politics Thursday, February 27th, 2014

From ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, Abuja

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde, yesterday assured the Senate that criminal investigation of the alleged missing $20 billion oil money will commence as soon as forensic auditors conclude investigations.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said two days ago that she would prefer independent forensic auditors to check the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ascertain the truth about the oil funds.

This was after President Goodluck Jonathan had assured that the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation will undertake a forensic audit of NNPC finances to trace the funds. The Senate Committee on Finance is presently investigating the status and whereabouts of the said funds.

Speaking when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to defend the commission’s 2014 budget, Lamorde said that criminal investigation will commence because the EFCC auditors will use the same documents as the forensic auditors.

His words: “It’s very easy to say that the anti-corruption agencies should look into it. When this controversy started, we had about three figures; one figure would emerge today, it would change to another figure tomorrow and we arrive at another figure the next day. Now, we have settled more or less for $20 billion.

“The Finance Minister said they want to commission an audit firm to do forensic auditing of the finances of NNPC. You need a professional firm to handle this. This is not a common investigation. These are very technical things. Let the audit be carried out. Let’s know exactly what we are talking about, understand what the figures are and criminal investigation can follow.

“You can’t start an investigation on nothing. You need a foundation. You can’t put a super structure without a base. So, we need that base to put our own investigation on it. You can’t do this thing parallel when the Minister of Finance has said that an independent firm would be contracted to do a forensic auditing of NNPC accounts.

“It’s the same documents that the auditors would use that we would also use…”

Lamorde also gave reasons the NNPC cannot be probed for now. The National Assembly is already investigating the issue about the NNPC. For every investigation, once the National Assembly is on it, we have to wait until they conclude.

“The fuel subsidy investigation with which we charged so many people to court where the son of the immediate past PDP National Chairman is one of the people standing trial. We did not go into the matter until it was concluded by the National Assembly and forwarded to us.

“We can’t just jump into something that’s still being investigated by the National Assembly. It’s not a mob kind of thing. There must be a sequence of events that would lead us to taking decision. Let the hearing of the National Assembly be concluded. Normally, when it is concluded, it is forwarded to us for investigation,” he said.

-Sunwp_posts