Emman Ovuakporie
03 February 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA — House of Representatives, yesterday, threatened Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of the major oil marketing companies who failed to appear before the on-going investigative panel on fuel subsidy regime.
The adhoc committee had declared that all CEOs should appear before the panel in person and not through any proxy henceforth.
Managing Directors had failed to show up but rather sent in sorrugates who gave excuses for their principals, pleading they were indisposed.
Chairman of the panel, Mr Farouk Lawan, who was enraged by this development directed that all the CEOs of the oil importers must appear before the committee physically and not through any representatives.
Lawan also directed that the oil marketers must make available before the committee, “certificates of incorporation, letters of credits, letters of allocations, bills of lading, invoices, quantities of products imported and their countries of origin and evidence of payments”.
A member of the panel, Mr Ali Ahmed, claimed that most of the oil companies were owned by politically exposed persons, like top government officials, members of the National Assembly, among others.
The chairman House Committee on Appropriation, John Enoh however warned the major oil companies against feeding the panel with lies and doctored documents adding that the companies should be more truthful in their submissions, the excuse of high exchange rates as responsible for increase in subsidy payments cannot fly before this committee.
Meanwhile, the outstanding debts being owed the importers by both the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agencies, PPPRA are now on the high side as all the oil companies which appeared before the panel on Thursday claimed that they were being owed between N1.9 billion and N10 billion as at December last year.
Some oil importers indicted by the KPMG audit report were grilled by the committee yesterday including the Managing Director of Dee Jones Petroleum, Mr Richard Eze and MD of Vitol Company, an offshore organisation, Mr Rodney Gavshon.
