There was no sufficient evidence yet to convict the former AGF, Mohammed Adoke; ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke; and former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, over the $1.092 billion Malabu oil deal.
The AGF said investigation was ongoing on the matter and that it was not possible for him to jump to the conclusion of indictment. According to him, the investigation is from different perspectives because of alleged criminality, breach of contract and associated elements.
This is as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in its submission, said it was not party to the agreement on OPL 245, adding that it was the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, that could answer questions relating to issues on the Malabu transaction. C’ttee flays Adeosun for non- appearance The committee also frowned on the inability of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to attend the hearing and ordered that she must attend today’s hearing by all means, particularly as her predecessor was involved in the issue.
Malami, who spoke at the Rasak Atunwa-led Ad-hoc Committee on the alleged corruption, malpractices and breach of due process in the award of OPL 245, told the committee that efforts to ensure the former AGF appeared had not yielded any positive result, regretting that he was only sending correspondences.
He said: “I can’t with certainty jump into the conclusion of indictment. The former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has not made himself available, though he has made written submissions to the ministry.
” Fielding questions on the opening of an escrow account by Adoke, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and Olusegun Aganga over the $1.092 billion Malabu oil deal, Malami said the payment of $1.092 billion was fraudulent as it should have been paid into the Federation Account or the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
We didn’t know OPL 245 has huge oil deposits —NNPC In its submission, the NNPC, through its Chief Operating Officer, Bello Rabiu, said the corporation was also not aware that over nine billion barrels of crude oil was in OPL 245 as being claimed, adding that he heard of such a figure in reports.
Rabiu said the plague of the oil sector was corruption, adding that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, would engender transparency in the industry. He said the award of OPL 245 was not extraordinary as the minister had the discretionary powers to give and revoke licences for oil blocks but was quick to add that in the case of Malabu, it was selective tendering.
Obasanjo, Atiku, Dan-Etete not part of Malabu However, counsel to Malabu Oil and Gas, Abdullahi Haruna, and consultant to majority shareholders of Malabu, Lawal Abba, insisted that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and one-time Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, had no stake in Malabu, despite observations by chairman of the committee that various foreign court rulings indicate the contrary.
Earlier in his speech, chairman of the committee, Rasak Atunwa, noted that the issue of OPL 245 had become an albatross on the necks of successive governments in Nigeria since 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment