Again, Senate uncovers fresh $1.151.6bn illegal withdrawals from NLNG dividends

Further probe into the $3.5 billion financial impropriety by the Nigeria National Petroluem Corporation (NNPC), the Senate on Wednesday further uncovered fresh multiple illegal withdrawals from the dividends accounts of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas ( NLNG) totalling $1.151.609 billion by Corporation.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Mikanti Baru, had earlier in the previous interrogation admitted to the withdrawal of $1.05 billion from the LNG account to pay subsidy on petrol.

The new sleaze was uncovered on Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Gas, headed by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (PDP, Akwa Ibom North), which is probing the $1.05bn NNPC withdrawn from the account in April this year without authorisation by relevant authorities.

The committee had ordered NNPC and CBN to submit documents on withdrawals made from the NLNG dividends account within the last two years.

Upon scrutinising the NLNG account documents presented to it on Wednesday particularly by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Finance of the CBN, Babatunde Adeniran, the committee observed series of cash debiting from the account from November 2016 to June this year totalling $2.201bn.

The breakdown of the withdrawals not supported by required approving documents as observed by the committee are $86.546,526 million withdrawn from the account on the 22nd of November 2016 allegedly being payment on Paris Club loans for the state governors, $1.05bn withdrawn on the 17th of April 2018 as National Fuel Support Fund.

Others are $650 million withdrawn from the account on the 7th of June this year for offsetting of Joint Venture Cash Call by NNPC which ordinarily supposed to be budget item payment and $415, 063m withdrawn from the account also in June without clear explanation on purpose for which it was meant for.

Angered by the illegal withdrawals, the committee chairman and members ordered officials of CBN and NNPC who represented their bosses to forward to them latest by Tuesday next week, supporting cum approving documents for the withdrawals.

Specifically, the committee chairman, Bassey Akpan said: “From the available documents before us, aside the $1.05 bn we are mandated by the Senate to investigate, several withdrawals have also been made from the NLNG dividends account without required supporting documents to back them.

“This is unacceptable to us, the very reason along with the fact that the GMD of NNPC and CBN Governor are not here in persons, we are not going to continue with the session today (yesterday).

“Therefore on a very serious note, both the NNPC and CBN must furnish this committee with other relevant documents on the withdrawals latest by Tuesday next week and the NNPC GMD, the Corporation, Group Executive Director (Finance), Isiaka Abdulrasak and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, must appear before us on Thursday next week”.

The committee chairman disclosed further in his office that even the approving memo tendered by NNPC for the withdrawal of the $1.05bn being investigated has no clear cut authorisation from required authorities.

According to him, the memo NNPC GMD 49 signed by Mikanti Baru sent through the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, has no clear cut language of request for approval for withdrawal of the $1.05bn but just notification.

“Even if it has, approval for withdrawal from such fund supposed to be given by the National Economic Council (NEC) being an account or dividends owned by the three tiers of government.

“We are surely going to carry out thorough investigation on the illegal withdrawals to put an end to the cycle because a whopping sum of $5 billion was withdrawn from the same account in 2015 under this same government without any convincing explanations made so far on what the money was used for”, he added.