Facing a huge cash crisis, President
Muhammadu Buhari has resorted to
unusual strategies for recovering some of
the funds stolen from Nigeria’s treasury through
a series of shady deals between former
Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and
a group of indigenous oil companies and oil
marketers she and former President Goodluck
Jonathan favored.

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, brought the part of the
illicit deals to public attention when he alerted
Nigerians that the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) had failed to deposit $20
billion of oil revenues with the CBN.
In addition,
Mrs. Alison-Madueke had inked some deals, with
the blessing of former President Jonathan,
involving oil swaps and the transfer of certain oil
wells reclaimed from multinational oil companies
to shady Nigerian operators, including Jide
Omokore and Kola Aluko.

An investigation by SaharaReporters discovered
that President Buhari’s administration has begun
the difficult and complex process of retrieving
some of the missing petro-billions. One approach
so far adopted by the new president is aimed at
addressing the fuel scarcity that has harmed the
Nigerian economy and threatens to paralyze the
country’s economic activities, according to
highly placed officials in the government.
But one exception involves Mr. Omokore whose
Atlantic Atlantic Energy Oil Company was
involved in the controversial concession of oil
wells.

A source at the Presidency told
SaharaReporters that Mr. Omokore had
volunteered to return $500 million to the Federal
Government. However, the source added that
President Buhari nixed the deal based on
information that Mr. Omokore, believed to be a
front for Mr. Jonathan and Mrs. Alison-Madueke,
is in possession of $4.5 billion of funds that
should have been deposited in the federation
account.

The sources told SaharaReporters that the
government’s immediate strategy involved
targeting oil marketers and companies “caught
red-handed in stealing huge sums of oil
subsidies and oil revenues.” The government has
pressured these companies and their owners to
agree to repay the stolen monies traced to them
by immediately importing more fuel into Nigeria.

The sources said the Buhari government has
recorded significant early success in getting
some oil marketers and their companies to
accept the fuel-for-funds deals. “A number of
them have agreed to import massive levels of
fuel in lieu of the funds they received in shady
transactions during the Jonathan
administration,” one Presidency source claimed.

Another source revealed that the administration
had started out by putting pressure on former
Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke. She
was reportedly quick to deny responsibility for
the illicit deals with the oil marketers. Instead,
she squealed on her subordinates in the NNPC,
accusing them of structuring and doctoring the
deals that robbed Nigeria of billions of dollars.

“The [Buhari] government got her to write a
formal account of her allegations against some
NNPC officials and oil companies. What she put
down gave a picture of how some of the funds
went missing. The document was then forwarded
to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) in the form of a petition,”
one source said.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s “petition” reportedly
named all the persons involved in the massive
fraud in the oil sector, including some past and
serving officials of the NNPC. Our sources said
those she implicated in the NNPC include the
current General Managing Director (GMD),
Haruna Momoh, a former GMD, Austen Oniwon,
Reginald Stanley and Sam Okeke, a former Group
General Manager, New Business Division of the
NNPC.

An EFCC source told SaharaReporters that a
crack team of investigators was currently
working on the former minister’s petition. He
said the document had revealed new facts
previously unknown by EFCC agents and
Nigeria’s intelligence officials at Department of
State Services (DSS). Among the scams
disclosed by the former minister is information
that at least four companies involved in an oil
swap deal had not accounted for huge sums that
should have been remitted to the account of the
Nigerian government.

Among the companies implicated in her
“petition,” Transfigura was reportedly unable to
account for $80 million, Televeras $111million,
while Aiteo apparently gulped down $150 million.
Other oil firms named in the defrauding of the
Nigerian people are Ontario, which failed to
account for $135 million, and Sahara Energy,
accused of skipping the payment of $120 million
to the government.

Our EFCC source revealed that two companies,
Transfigura and Sahara Energy, had made some
gesture towards paying back some missing
funds. However, a source at the Presidency told
our correspondent that “so far the reconciliation
has involved just paperwork and has not
scratched the heart of the scam.” Investigators
described Aiteo and Ontario as particularly
problematic because they have completely
cooked their records. An investigator also
disclosed that the two companies are most
directly linked to Mrs. Alison-Madueke and
former President Jonathan. Both Ms. Alison-
Madueke and Mr. Jonathan are currently in the
UK, with the former Petroleum Minister reportedly
undergoing a weeklong cancer therapy.
Some of the companies have agreed in principle
to return the funds by bartering imported fuel for
the funds they acquired illegally.

Our sources disclosed that other downstream
companies caught in the storm of missing and
stolen funds include Forte Oil, owned by
businessman Femi Otedola, Folawiyo Energy,
and, Oando, owned by Wale Tinubu and
Honeywell Oil Company owned by Oba Otudeko.

Officials of the Buhari administration declined to
give official confirmation of the stolen assets
recovery process relating to other officials of the
Jonathan Presidency.



http://saharareporters.com/2015/06/10/stolen-assets-recovery-buhari-demands-fuel-imports-oil-marketers-implicated-fraud

good

i understand ur peril, but importation of fuel? not gonna happen...

.

Nice

Right now I'm just A cold sweat hot-headed believer of Buhari and his tactical administration.

It is easier said than done. Even a nursery one pupil knows how to armtwist the APC

It's very commendable, the likes of Capital oil should also be investigated.

slyopez:
It's very commendable, the likes of Capital oil should also be investigated.

Lol he has nothing to hide. Ntor all the indicted criminals are from your " sophisticated" region

chukwudi44:

Lol he has nothing to hide. Ntor all the indicted criminals are from your " sophisticated" region

Funny enough i come from same state with him. So shove that sentiment up your ass dude.

Thumbs up.

slyopez:
Funny enough i come from same state with him. So shove that sentiment up your ass dude.

Dumb move, collect the cash from them and fix things