EFCC has reportedly
recovered N46 billion from oil marketers in a probe of massive fraud in oil
lifting in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC.
According to The
Nation, the marketers whose names are yet to be disclosed because the
investigation is yet to be concluded, lifted products without paying a dime to
the defunct Petroleum Products and Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of
the NNPC now known as the National Petroleum Marketing Company(NPMC).
A top source in
EFCC, who spoke in confidence said“When we conducted our investigation, we
discovered that the affected marketers sourced products from NNPC through PPMC
without paying for them. In some instances, these marketers got two or three
supplies and paid for one.
Through connivance,
they cooked the books. We discovered that products worth about N100billion were
lifted and unpaid for by marketers leading to the invitation and interaction
with some of them. So far, we have been able to recover N46billion out of the
N100billion which the nation had purportedly lost.”
The source alleged
some forces within and outside NNPC and PPMC behind the syndicate almost
frustrated the EFCC team investigating the “fraud”.
“The cartel wielded
enormous influence in the sector and it almost frustrated the investigation and
the recovery. As a matter of fact, some forces in NNPC and PPMC did not want us
to go this far"he said
LIB
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