Subsidy fraud: Four more oil marketers to be investigated

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday released an updated list of oil markets recommended for criminal investigation for fraudulently collecting fund set aside for the fuel subsidy scheme.

In a press statement issued by Paul Nwabuikwu, the Senior Special Assistant to Minister of Finance, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said “the updated number is 25, four more than the list of 21 released earlier.”

She said that the number has been confirmed by the Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payments.

According to the statement, some of the companies claimed payments for consignments brought in by ships which investigations revealed were either non-existent or were somewhere else in the world.

Please find below extract of the report detailing the cases against the Twenty-Five (25) OM&Ts.

S/N	OM/T	INFRACTION DESCRIPTIONS	AMOUNT
1	ALMINNUR RESOURCES LIMITED	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no Longer operational at the time of transshipment and no shipping documents	504,329,535.27
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no Longer operational at the time of transshipment and no shipping documents	546,700,899.36
			1,051,030,434.63
2	BRILLA ENERGY LIMITED	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	963,796,199.85
3	CAADES OIL AND GAS LTD	No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	487,799,826.80
4	CAPITAL OIL & GAS INDUSTRY LTD	Subsidy payments without proof of existence of the mother vessel bill of lading or daughter vessel bill of lading	984,440,711.38
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	1,480,444,043.58
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	1,832,280,164.36
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	2,110,438,332.44
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	2,490,576,987.15
			8,898,180,238.91
5	CAPITAL OIL PLC	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in the locations claimed at the time of transhipment	608,077,964.00
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in the locations claimed at the time of transhipment	608,220,553.20
			1,216,298,517.20
6	CEOTI LIMITED	Specially mentioned transactions with various infractions. Transactions were discovered to be bills for collection transactions, but as at the time of the review it was discovered that the shipping documents evidencing arrival of the products had not been submitted to the respective banks for payment:. 11/07/12 : OM/T to provide letter from their bankers confirming that they financed the transaction.	1,773,421,842.01
7	CONOIL PLC	Subsidy payments without proof of existence of the mother vessel bill of lading or daughter vessel bill of lading	1,065,934,768.66
		Subsidy payments without proof of existence of the mother vessel bill of lading or daughter vessel bill of lading	1,882,143,309.24
			2,948,078,077.90
8	DOWNSTREAM ENERGY SOURCE LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	789,648,329.25
		Subsidy payments without the signature of external auditors and independent inspectors on shore tank certificates	984,440,711.38
			1,774,089,040.63
9	ETERNA PLC	Subsidy payments for which there were no shipping documents or evidence of payment for the products in foreign exchange. (Form ‘m’ 945404)	578,295,672.84
		No evidence of sales proceeds in the bank.	626,465,370.06
		Subsidy payments without proof of existence of mother vessel bill of Lading or Daughter bill of Lading. (Form ‘m’ 926342)	917,895,596.40
			2,122,859,123.70
10	EURAFRIC OIL & GAS LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	955,688,127.82
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no longer operational at the time of transhipment	1,306,170,995.88
			2,261,859,123.70
11	HEYDEN PETROLEUM	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	594,714,089.31
12	LUMEN SKIES LTD	Transactions disclaimed by banks	267,521,051.32
		Transactions disclaimed by banks	507,266,701.54
			774,787,752.86
13	MAJOPE INVESTMENT LTD	Subsidy payments without the signature of external auditors and independent inspectors on shore tank certificates	959,813,734.22
14	MASTER ENERGY OIL & GAS LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	1,454,308,353.50
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	1,454,687,937.79
			2,908,996,291.29
15	MATRIX ENERGY LIMITED	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	560,744,384.56
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	1,274,372,887.98
		Specially mentioned transactions with various infractions. Transactions were Bills for collection and as at the time of review no shipping document evidencing payment was available.  MAT/2031/MAS/PMS/28/09/11	1,301,904,784.71
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment. MAT/1679/MAS/PMS/27/04/11	1,501,684,359.70
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced. MAT/2031/MAS/PMS/28/09/11	1,595,095,720.20
			6,233,802,137.15
16	MENOL OIL & GAS LIMITED	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	1,691,595,830.87
17	MOB INTERNATIONAL SERVICES	No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	1,019,068,114.10
		No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	1,118,260,800.00
			2,137,328,914.10
18	MRS OIL & GAS PLC	Subsidy payments for which there were no shipping documents or evidence of payment for the products in foreign exchange	6,086,531,305.33
19	NASAMAN OIL SERVICES LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no longer operational at the time of transhipment	598,723,358.04
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	749,991,273.36
		Subsidy payments without the signature of external auditors and independent inspectors on shore tank certificates	881,350,767.57
		No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	1,631,342,040.93
			3,861,407,437.90
20	NATICEL PETROLEUM LIMITED	Specially mentioned transactions with various infractions. No shipping document in bank and no evidence of payment for product	1,514,333,360.64
		No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	1,567,037,317.70
			3,081,370,678.34
21	OCEAN ENERGY TRADING & SERVICES LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels could not be traced	1,778,180,051.20
22	PINNACLE CONTRACTORS LTD	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were not found in locations claimed at the time of transhipment	1,227,601,783.20
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no longer operational at the time of transhipment	1,528,044,960.84
			2,755,646,744.04
23	SIFAX OIL AND GAS COMPANY	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no longer operational at the time of transhipment	1,033,119,489.60
24	TONIQUE OIL SERVICES LTD	No evidence of Sales proceeds in banks	1,575,014,046.51
25	TOP OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED.	Subsidy payments for which mother vessels were no Longer operational at the time of transshipment and no shipping documents	1,092,496,724.55
		Subsidy payments for which mother vessel could not be traced and no shipping documents were sighted	1,268,236,760.88
			2,360,733,485.43