The Managing
Director of IPMAN Investment Limited, Mr Tunji Adeniji, has exonerated its
company over reports of alleged N10.9 billion subsidy scam credited to a
factional president of IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo.
In a statement made
available to Vanguard after the IPMAN NEC meeting in Abuja, the allegation was
described as false allegations that its Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji
Aminu Abdulkadir embezzled the proceeds of petroleum subsidy claim of the
association amounting to over N10.9 billion.
He said that the allegation, which
was recently attributed to Okoronkwo, one of its factional leaders, was untrue
insisting that the accused was not guilty of such crime, adding that he was
committed to the IPMAN Investment Limited. He added that the allegation was the
handiwork of elements that were unhappy with the current peaceful state of the
association.
He, however challenged anyone with evidence of wrong doing in
IPMAN to come forward with such information for appropriate actions, insisting
that there was nothing like a N10 billion subsidy claims Adeniji stated that
the company is legally instituted with credible members managing the company
which the accuser has testified to the credibility of the business group.
He
said that all permits given to IPMAN investment Limited by the Petroleum
Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, were duly executed and the
trucks certified. According to him, Okoronkwo ought to know the bounds of free
speech and where defamation starts.
“It is hoped that he will click his tail
in-between his legs and will correct his utterances for, as the Holy Book puts
it, people perish for lack of knowledge and unfortunately, the accuser has
shown that he is one such ignorant persons. “The company therefore requires an
express apology from him for his acts of gross misrepresentation of facts or
face appropriate legal actions,’’ he added.
He further stated that the company
had a certified permit in the country and engages in the importation of refined
petroleum products under the petroleum support fund, PSF, scheme of the
country.
“The Petroleum Support Fund, PSF, scheme was set up to enable adequate
payment of subsidy to marketers through the Petroleum Produce Pricing and
Registry Agency, PPPRA, the Debt Management Office, DMO and the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, by the Federal Government.
“Subsidy payment is a cost recovery
system whereby marketers were paid the differential between the total cost of
import and the regulated price of the government which could be over-recovery
or under recovery as the case may be.
“Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo’s shout on
subsidy scam in IPMAN Investment Limited was mischievous and a
misrepresentation of facts, for he lacks knowledge of what subsidy payment is
all about,’’ the statement added. He argued that “It is regrettable for an
individual of his calibre to be talking of subsidy payment executed verified,
probed in 2011 by the Economic and Financial Commission, EFCC, the National
Assembly and Aig-Imokuede Committee set up by the federal government where the
company was duly cleared.
“It is a shame that the accuser started howling about
missing N10.9 Billion subsidy claim without getting his facts correctly and
cross-checking same. It is very important to put the record straight that other
agencies of the Federal Government involved in the subsidy scheme including the
Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum equalization fund, PEF, the
Debt Management Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, did not find the
company involved or participated in any criminal or fraudulent act with respect
to subsidy claims.”
It will be recalled that the Okoronkwo-led faction of IPMAN
had reportedly alleged that a financial fraud was committed by the other
faction and that N10.9 billion was paid into the company by the government as
subsidy claim.
(VANGUARDNGR)
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