Why nobody was indicted over alleged missing $49.8bn – Makarfi

As former minister of petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke prepares
to stand trial in the United Kingdom for alleged corrupt offenses
in Nigeria, reasons have been proffered why she or any other
individual was not indicted in the infamous missing $49.8 billion
proceeds to federation account.

The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Alhaji
Ahmed Makarfi Wednesday told finance journalists in Abuja why the
immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Alison-Madueke was not indicted by the committee that investigated
the unremitted $49.8bn revenue by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.

Makarfi who served as former governor of Kaduna state was the
chairman of the committee that set up by the seventh senate to
investigate the $48.9bn unremitted oil revenue following
allegations raised by the then Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Makarfi said the terms of reference given by the senate to the
committee, only mandated the committee to determine if the said
amount was actually missing and unremitted to the federation
account.

However after the committee’s investigation he stated that
“there was no evidence to show that the former minister was
involved in the missing fund.”

According to Makarfi, “some people expected us to indict
Diezani, she must have committed some other offences but when you
come to the issue of the revenue we were probing as regards that
period, the NNPC never presented any document she tampered with or
approved anything. Everything the NNPC did, they said they were the
ones responsible and they are the ones accounting.”

He then questioned that “on what basis will you go to an
individual to indict that person. Nobody presented any memo,
internal or whatever to show that for the period our probe covered,
she gave any instruction as regards the missing revenue.”

He said those accusing the committee of cover up were being
economical with the truth, adding that in some of its
recommendations, the NNPC was required to make refunds of over $5
billion to the coffers of government.

Specifically, Makarfi gave reporters the copy of the report and
it was recommended that “NNPC should refund and remit to the
federation account the sum of $262 million being expenses it could
not satisfactorily defend.”

He dismissed claims in some quarters that the committee was
compromised since it did not indict any official of government as a
result of the unremitted revenue.

The former Kaduna state governor and senator blamed the
inability of the committee to indict individuals to the fact that
“the report of the forensic audit conducted by the Office of the
Auditor-General for the Federation was not made available to the
committee contrary to the earlier understanding between the
committee and the then Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr
Samuel Ukura that the final recommendation of the committee should
be based on the forensic audit report conducted by the Office of
the Auditor-General.

Brandishing the copy of the report before journalists, Makarfi
noted that “we were given an assignment that was very specific,
which was that $48.9 billion was not remitted into the federation
account and in the course of doing our job, we were given
additional task to find out how N700 million was being spent daily
to subsidize kerosene.

According to him “these were the two specific assignments given
to us. For the first one we were to determine the amount that
entered the federation account within a specified period of time
and it didn’t have to do with so many aspects of NNPC operations
such as strategic alliances, contracts and allocation of
blocks.”

Makarfi then disclosed that “at the end of the day we came out
with findings that there was no certainty as to the amount not
being remitted, as the CBN was not even sure how much was not
remitted. As to the issue of indicating anybody, we didn’t indicate
anybody because forensic audit was yet to be conducted then.”

He explained further that “we had understanding with
Auditor-General for the Federation that he will conduct a forensic
audit which would be forwarded to our committee and we indicated
this in our report to the Senate that when we receive the forensic
audit report we will make specific recommendations on matters that
have to do with individuals.

“Maybe because we were leaving government, all our
communications to the auditor general were ignored and we
communicated to the senate that we were unable to get this audit
report from the auditor general and our hands were tied.”

Defending the integrity of his committee’s report, Makarfi noted
that “when the National Economic Council appointed Price Water
House to do the same audit but with a wider scope, their report and
our own was not far apart. Mind you they had longer terms of
reference and longer period to cover.”

Regarding the controversial kerosene subsidy at that time,
Senator Makarfi stated that “because of the sensitivity of the
matter, I sought the permission of the senate president that I
wanted to find out the truth even from the then President (Goodluck
Jonathan) if he approved it (subsidy).”

“He arranged it and I asked specific questions whether he was
aware that subsidy on kerosene was being paid and he confirmed in
the affirmative.”

As former minister of petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke prepares
to stand trial in the United Kingdom for alleged corrupt offenses
in Nigeria, reasons have been proffered why she or any other
individual was not indicted in the infamous missing $49.8 billion
proceeds to federation account.

The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Alhaji
Ahmed Makarfi Wednesday told finance journalists in Abuja why the
immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Alison-Madueke was not indicted by the committee that investigated
the unremitted $49.8bn revenue by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.

Makarfi who served as former governor of Kaduna state was the
chairman of the committee that set up by the seventh senate to
investigate the $48.9bn unremitted oil revenue following
allegations raised by the then Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Makarfi said the terms of reference given by the senate to the
committee, only mandated the committee to determine if the said
amount was actually missing and unremitted to the federation
account.

However after the committee’s investigation he stated that
“there was no evidence to show that the former minister was
involved in the missing fund.”

According to Makarfi, “some people expected us to indict
Diezani, she must have committed some other offences but when you
come to the issue of the revenue we were probing as regards that
period, the NNPC never presented any document she tampered with or
approved anything. Everything the NNPC did, they said they were the
ones responsible and they are the ones accounting.”

He then questioned that “on what basis will you go to an
individual to indict that person. Nobody presented any memo,
internal or whatever to show that for the period our probe covered,
she gave any instruction as regards the missing revenue.”

He said those accusing the committee of cover up were being
economical with the truth, adding that in some of its
recommendations, the NNPC was required to make refunds of over $5
billion to the coffers of government.

Specifically, Makarfi gave reporters the copy of the report and
it was recommended that “NNPC should refund and remit to the
federation account the sum of $262 million being expenses it could
not satisfactorily defend.”

He dismissed claims in some quarters that the committee was
compromised since it did not indict any official of government as a
result of the unremitted revenue.

The former Kaduna state governor and senator blamed the
inability of the committee to indict individuals to the fact that
“the report of the forensic audit conducted by the Office of the
Auditor-General for the Federation was not made available to the
committee contrary to the earlier understanding between the
committee and the then Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr
Samuel Ukura that the final recommendation of the committee should
be based on the forensic audit report conducted by the Office of
the Auditor-General.

Brandishing the copy of the report before journalists, Makarfi
noted that “we were given an assignment that was very specific,
which was that $48.9 billion was not remitted into the federation
account and in the course of doing our job, we were given
additional task to find out how N700 million was being spent daily
to subsidize kerosene.

According to him “these were the two specific assignments given
to us. For the first one we were to determine the amount that
entered the federation account within a specified period of time
and it didn’t have to do with so many aspects of NNPC operations
such as strategic alliances, contracts and allocation of
blocks.”

Makarfi then disclosed that “at the end of the day we came out
with findings that there was no certainty as to the amount not
being remitted, as the CBN was not even sure how much was not
remitted. As to the issue of indicating anybody, we didn’t indicate
anybody because forensic audit was yet to be conducted then.”

He explained further that “we had understanding with
Auditor-General for the Federation that he will conduct a forensic
audit which would be forwarded to our committee and we indicated
this in our report to the Senate that when we receive the forensic
audit report we will make specific recommendations on matters that
have to do with individuals.

“Maybe because we were leaving government, all our
communications to the auditor general were ignored and we
communicated to the senate that we were unable to get this audit
report from the auditor general and our hands were tied.”

Defending the integrity of his committee’s report, Makarfi noted
that “when the National Economic Council appointed Price Water
House to do the same audit but with a wider scope, their report and
our own was not far apart. Mind you they had longer terms of
reference and longer period to cover.”

Regarding the controversial kerosene subsidy at that time,
Senator Makarfi stated that “because of the sensitivity of the
matter, I sought the permission of the senate president that I
wanted to find out the truth even from the then President (Goodluck
Jonathan) if he approved it (subsidy).”

“He arranged it and I asked specific questions whether he was
aware that subsidy on kerosene was being paid and he confirmed in
the affirmative.”