Senate to NNPC, CBN: Provide documents for $3.12bn withdrawn from NLNG accounts

The Senate committee on Gas, Thursday directed the management of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to submit to it documents authorising the
withdrawal of $3.12 billion from the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas
(NLNG) account within the last three years. The funds were
allegedly withdrawn with 22 separate vouchers.

But the management of the NNPC represented by its Chief
Financial Officer, Isiaka Abdulrasak called for the widening of
scope of the committee’s investigation to cover the entire 45
withdrawals made from the said account from 1999 till date.

Abdulrasaq who willing to throw more light on the total amount
withdrawn from the said account, but he was cut short by the
Committee Chairman, Senator Bassey Akpan ( PDP Akwa Ibom North
East). Akpan accused the NNPC official of going outside his
brief.

Senator Osinachukwu Ideozu, a member of the committee also
faulted Abdulrazaq’s actions, questioning his competence as the
Chief Finance Officer of the NNPC.

Ideozu chided the NNPC official for being confrontational in his
response to questions put to him by the committee.

The committee said there were missing links in the brief
submitted to it by the management of the NNPC, stressing that this
has made the committee job difficult.

Akpan consequently directed the NNPC to furnish the Committee
with records of all dividends accruing from the NLNG and all
withdrawals from the account since 2015.

The committee gave the NNPC up till November 30 to supply its
secretariat with a comprehensive list of the 22 withdrawals made
from the NLNG Dividend Account with the CBN since 2015.

The Committee also directed the Acting Director of Banking
Services of the CBN, Mr Christopher Olumukore, who stood in for CBN
Governor Godwin Emefele, to submit within one week all
authorizations for withdrawals, including originating mandates and
approvals.

Akpan added that the CBN should also submit to the Committee by
November 30 statement of account of the NLNG Dividend Account
domiciled with the the apex bank.

Olumukore had earlier told the committee that the Dividend
Account domiciled with the apex bank was being operated by both
NNPC and Ministry of Finance.

He said that mandates for withdrawals from the account were
usually from the NNPC and on occasions from the Finance
Minister.

The Senate had in October, mandated its Committee on Gas to
investigate the alleged illegal withdrawal of $1.05 billion by NNPC
from the NLNG dividend account with CBN.

The Committee was also directed to look into other withdrawals
that had been made by the NNPC from the said account since
2015.

The committee will commence scrutiny of the various documents on
December 1.

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