After pocketing a princely N345.3 million and failing to supply petroleum products, Aig-Imoukhede is rewarded with appointments to probe himself and his accomplices
Chairman of the special committee appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan to verify and reconcile the records of payments on fuel subsidy, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, owns a company that received millions of Naira in subsidy payments for products it allegedly failed to deliver.
Detailed company searches by an Abuja-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Youth Alliance Against Fuel Subsidy Removal, revealed that Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede, who is the Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, also owns Ice Energy Petroleum Trading Limited, which allegedly received $2,131,166.32 in hard currency (about N345.3 million) in 2011.
It is not clear whether the company delivered the product for which it was paid but the House committee believe it did not.
The defunct Farouk Lawan-led House of Representative Committee had, in its report, queried the company for receiving payment when no petroleum products were imported and supplied.
Ice Energy was one of the 45 companies invited to appear before the probe committee, but which failed to either honour the invitation or submit documents concerning their involvement in the monumental fraud that attended the subsidy scheme.
Findings by Youth Alliance at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and made available to PREMIUM TIMES, show that Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede heads the three-man board of Ice Energy, which has Iroche Chuks, as managing director, and Aikhionbare Sam, as member.
Asking Aig-Imoukhuede to probe self and accomplices
Following the shocking revelation in the report of the House of Representatives Committee that fuel subsidy payment, for which about N245billion was appropriated in the 2011 budget, had suddenly spiralled to over N2.6 trillion (over 2,200 per cent) as at December last year, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, constituted a Technical Committee on review of Fuel Subsidy Payments, and appointed Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede as its head.
It is not clear if the ministry was aware of Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede’s involvement with Ice Energy before appointing him to the committee, which was mandated to verify, ascertain and reconcile discrepancies related to all subsidy arrears payments to petroleum products marketers.
Following the completion of the assignment, President Jonathan, apparently glossing over the indictment and complicity of Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede’s company in the fuel subsidy scandal, last Thursday re-appointed him to head another 15-man committee to further verify and reconcile all claims made in the report of the Technical Committee he led.
The president requested the new committee “to properly identify all cases of overpayments and/or irregular payments; to accurately identify all likely fraudulent cases for criminal investigations, and to review any other pertinent issues that may arise from its work and make appropriate recommendations.”
Mr. Jonathan’s decision to appoint the Access Bank’s MD to lead such an important committee, observers say, underlines the administration’s reluctance to act appropriately on the report of the House committee, which uncovered monumental fraud in the fuel subsidy regime.
When PREMIUM TIMES sought to know from the president’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, whether the president was aware that Mr. Aig-Imokhuoede also benefited from the fuel subsidy payments he was asked to verify, his response was a question: "Are you sure?"
When our reporter answered in the affirmative, he continued, "If that is the case, the question to ask is: Is his company guilty of any wrongdoing?"
When he was asked whether that did not amount to asking the Access Bank’s managing director to probe himself over the scam, "Mr Abati said "No" pointing out that “it would only amount to asking an insider to do an inside investigation."
Mr. Abati, who promised to get more information, and revert to our reporter, never did by the time this report was published Monday morning.
Putting faces to ‘subsidy marketers’
Youth Alliance Against Fuel Subsidy Removal said it conducted the search on the indicted companies to “put a face to the indicted companies, to let Nigerians know exactly who took their money and then formed a cabal stronger than the government.”
Before announcing the removal of subsidy on petroleum products in January this year, one of the reasons President Jonathan gave was that a few Nigerians, who had since constituted themselves into a “cabal”, were enjoying the fuel subsidy largesse.
Up till last April, when the House of Representatives Committee released its probe report, the companies and individuals that benefited from the subsidy regime were largely unknown.
But extensive searches by the youth group at the CAC appear to have exposed some of the individuals behind the crook companies as well as the make-up of the faceless ‘cabal’.
“Mr Aig-Imuokhuede is not the only government apologist who belong to this ‘cabal”, a spokesperson for the group said in a statement at the weekend.
Like Aig-Imuokhuede like General Abdulsalami Abubakar
Other beneficiaries of the subsidy scheme revealed by the searches include former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, who owns Maizube Petroleum, which was listed in the House of Representatives report as one of the 45 companies fingered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for benefitting from the subsidy payment but failing to pay tax.
Maizube Petroleum, which was invited to appear before the probe committee, never showed up to answer questions, though it sent documents.
The report also said Maizube Petroleum should be compelled to refund the about N5.51billion it collected as subsidy for millions of litres of petroleum products it claimed to have imported but which could not be verified.
The House probe report also indicted the company for discrepancies in volume claims and dates of discharge it claimed it made between 2010 and 2011.
The former head of state, widely celebrated as one who facilitated the birth of the current democracy after he voluntarily handed over power to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, sits on the Board of Maizube Petroleum with Abubakar Isa A, and Abubakar Aminu A.
Fola Adeola too
Another member of the cabal is the running mate to Nuhu Ribadu in the 2011 presidential election under the Action Congress of Nigeria platform, Fola Adeola, who is also the co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc
Mr. Adeola, according to CAC records, sits on the board of Eterna Oil Plc, listed in the subsidy report as one of the companies indicted for tax evasion.
After details emerged that Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House Subsidy Committee, received $620,000 bribe from oil marketer Femi Otedola to clear his company, Zenon Oil, Mr. Adeola campaigned vigorously that government should set the report aside.
“If the allegation is proven, the report is contaminated. Period! We need to get to grips with this” Mr Adeola tweeted on June 12 via his Twitter handle @tfolaadeola.
More details
Out of the 74 companies indicted in the report, only 48 were properly registered with the CAC.
Detailed company searches by an Abuja-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Youth Alliance Against Fuel Subsidy Removal, revealed that Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede, who is the Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, also owns Ice Energy Petroleum Trading Limited, which allegedly received $2,131,166.32 in hard currency (about N345.3 million) in 2011.
It is not clear whether the company delivered the product for which it was paid but the House committee believe it did not.
The defunct Farouk Lawan-led House of Representative Committee had, in its report, queried the company for receiving payment when no petroleum products were imported and supplied.
Ice Energy was one of the 45 companies invited to appear before the probe committee, but which failed to either honour the invitation or submit documents concerning their involvement in the monumental fraud that attended the subsidy scheme.
Findings by Youth Alliance at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and made available to PREMIUM TIMES, show that Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede heads the three-man board of Ice Energy, which has Iroche Chuks, as managing director, and Aikhionbare Sam, as member.
Asking Aig-Imoukhuede to probe self and accomplices
Following the shocking revelation in the report of the House of Representatives Committee that fuel subsidy payment, for which about N245billion was appropriated in the 2011 budget, had suddenly spiralled to over N2.6 trillion (over 2,200 per cent) as at December last year, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, constituted a Technical Committee on review of Fuel Subsidy Payments, and appointed Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede as its head.
It is not clear if the ministry was aware of Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede’s involvement with Ice Energy before appointing him to the committee, which was mandated to verify, ascertain and reconcile discrepancies related to all subsidy arrears payments to petroleum products marketers.
Following the completion of the assignment, President Jonathan, apparently glossing over the indictment and complicity of Mr. Aig-Imuokhuede’s company in the fuel subsidy scandal, last Thursday re-appointed him to head another 15-man committee to further verify and reconcile all claims made in the report of the Technical Committee he led.
The president requested the new committee “to properly identify all cases of overpayments and/or irregular payments; to accurately identify all likely fraudulent cases for criminal investigations, and to review any other pertinent issues that may arise from its work and make appropriate recommendations.”
Mr. Jonathan’s decision to appoint the Access Bank’s MD to lead such an important committee, observers say, underlines the administration’s reluctance to act appropriately on the report of the House committee, which uncovered monumental fraud in the fuel subsidy regime.
When PREMIUM TIMES sought to know from the president’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, whether the president was aware that Mr. Aig-Imokhuoede also benefited from the fuel subsidy payments he was asked to verify, his response was a question: "Are you sure?"
When our reporter answered in the affirmative, he continued, "If that is the case, the question to ask is: Is his company guilty of any wrongdoing?"
When he was asked whether that did not amount to asking the Access Bank’s managing director to probe himself over the scam, "Mr Abati said "No" pointing out that “it would only amount to asking an insider to do an inside investigation."
Mr. Abati, who promised to get more information, and revert to our reporter, never did by the time this report was published Monday morning.
Putting faces to ‘subsidy marketers’
Youth Alliance Against Fuel Subsidy Removal said it conducted the search on the indicted companies to “put a face to the indicted companies, to let Nigerians know exactly who took their money and then formed a cabal stronger than the government.”
Before announcing the removal of subsidy on petroleum products in January this year, one of the reasons President Jonathan gave was that a few Nigerians, who had since constituted themselves into a “cabal”, were enjoying the fuel subsidy largesse.
Up till last April, when the House of Representatives Committee released its probe report, the companies and individuals that benefited from the subsidy regime were largely unknown.
But extensive searches by the youth group at the CAC appear to have exposed some of the individuals behind the crook companies as well as the make-up of the faceless ‘cabal’.
“Mr Aig-Imuokhuede is not the only government apologist who belong to this ‘cabal”, a spokesperson for the group said in a statement at the weekend.
Like Aig-Imuokhuede like General Abdulsalami Abubakar
Other beneficiaries of the subsidy scheme revealed by the searches include former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, who owns Maizube Petroleum, which was listed in the House of Representatives report as one of the 45 companies fingered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for benefitting from the subsidy payment but failing to pay tax.
Maizube Petroleum, which was invited to appear before the probe committee, never showed up to answer questions, though it sent documents.
The report also said Maizube Petroleum should be compelled to refund the about N5.51billion it collected as subsidy for millions of litres of petroleum products it claimed to have imported but which could not be verified.
The House probe report also indicted the company for discrepancies in volume claims and dates of discharge it claimed it made between 2010 and 2011.
The former head of state, widely celebrated as one who facilitated the birth of the current democracy after he voluntarily handed over power to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, sits on the Board of Maizube Petroleum with Abubakar Isa A, and Abubakar Aminu A.
Fola Adeola too
Another member of the cabal is the running mate to Nuhu Ribadu in the 2011 presidential election under the Action Congress of Nigeria platform, Fola Adeola, who is also the co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc
Mr. Adeola, according to CAC records, sits on the board of Eterna Oil Plc, listed in the subsidy report as one of the companies indicted for tax evasion.
After details emerged that Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House Subsidy Committee, received $620,000 bribe from oil marketer Femi Otedola to clear his company, Zenon Oil, Mr. Adeola campaigned vigorously that government should set the report aside.
“If the allegation is proven, the report is contaminated. Period! We need to get to grips with this” Mr Adeola tweeted on June 12 via his Twitter handle @tfolaadeola.
More details
Out of the 74 companies indicted in the report, only 48 were properly registered with the CAC.
Look through the document and scrutinize the directors of the companies.
Access Bank MD, Aig-Imoukhuede, not on our board but his younger relative is, says indicted oil firm
Ice Energy says the Access Bank Managing Director is not probing own company but one in whose his brother has interest
Abuja-based Ice Energy Petroleum Trading Company Limited on Monday rose in stout defence of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, claiming the Access Bank Group Managing Director, is not superintending over the probe of his company with his assignment as Chairman, Special Committee on Subsidy Payment Verification and Reconciliation, but that of his younger relative.
PREMIUM TIMES had faulted President Goodluck Jonathan's appointment of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede as Chairman of the special committee after receiving findings of searches conducted at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to unmask the faces of owners of companies indicted in the House of Representatives subsidy payments probe report.
The CAC finding had indicated that Ice Energy, whose three-man Board of Directors has Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede as member, had links with the Access Bank boss, a development observers say raises conflict of interest issues about the role of the Chairman of the presidential committee in carrying out his mandate.
Juniour relative of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede on Ice's board
Incensed by the report, Ice Energy, in a release by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Chuks Iroche, said the company, alleged by the Farouk Lawan Committee to have pocketed $2,131,166.32 in hard currency (about N345.3million) in 2011 without supplying petroleum products, has no relationship whatsoever with the Access Bank boss, rather with his "junior relative", Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede.
"Aig-Imoukhuede on our Board is a younger relative of the CEO of Access Bank," Mr. Iroche said in his statement Monday.
But even this disclosure has got critics arguing that heading a committee that is considering an issue in which his close relative's company has a case to answer raises serious questions about the presidential committee chairman and his understanding of conflict of interest dilemma in assignments.
Available information at the CAC on the current ownership structure of Ice Energy shows that the younger Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede controls three million of the total nine million shares of the company as one of the three directors, and some sources believe he is still on the company's board as a proxy of the Access Bank's MD, a charge Ice Energy has denied.
Mr. Iroche, who also used the statement to absolve his company of any complicity in the alleged massive fraudulent activities by marketers in the fuel subsidy scam, said Ice Energy did not appear before the Farouk Lawan probe committee because no invitation was extended to it, contrary to claims by the committee that it flagrantly ignored same.
Similarly, he claimed that allegations by the former House Committee that his company collected huge foreign exchange for products not supplied as well as claims that Ice Energy benefitted from subsidy payments, were false, as the oil firm had written to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to cancel the importation allocation it received when it became obvious that it would not be able to meet the deadline set for product delivery.
Having been indicted by the Farouk-Lawan probe panel, Ice will have to explain this to the House of Representatives, anti-corruption agencies and presidential subsidy verification committte to clear its name.
Network of intrigues
The web of intrigues involving the two Aig-Imoukhuedes, who often answer to similar abreviations of their names as Aig Aig-Imoukhuede, is no less evident in another position held by the younger relative in another company, Marina Securities, whose links with Access Bank is so overtly undeniable.
Marina Securities is a Lagos-based stock-brokerage and portfolio management firm, with Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as chairman of the Board and Aig Aig-Imoukhuede as director, Wealth Management.
Curiously, two other directors of the company, Idaere Ogan and Angela Jones, are all senior officials of Access Bank Plc.
While Mr. Ogan is a member of the Audit Committee of Access Bank, Ms Jones still works as General Manager in charge of Wealth Management in Access Bank, according to information available on the company's official website.
Despite the bold-face posturing of the Ice Energy management, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the GMD of Access Bank, would still preside in judgement over the activities of companies indicted in the fuel subsidy scam, including one belonging to his "younger relative", except the president thinks otherwise.
It is not clear if Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede availed both the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and President Jonathan the full disclosure of his knowledge of the involvement of his "younger relative" in the ownership of Ice Energy before he accepted the appointment as head of the presidential verification and reconciliation committee.
Public officials and bank chiefs in Nigeria often sit on boards of several companies using fronts or proxies, tapping their connections to facilitate businesses for the firms.
Abuja-based Ice Energy Petroleum Trading Company Limited on Monday rose in stout defence of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, claiming the Access Bank Group Managing Director, is not superintending over the probe of his company with his assignment as Chairman, Special Committee on Subsidy Payment Verification and Reconciliation, but that of his younger relative.
PREMIUM TIMES had faulted President Goodluck Jonathan's appointment of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede as Chairman of the special committee after receiving findings of searches conducted at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to unmask the faces of owners of companies indicted in the House of Representatives subsidy payments probe report.
The CAC finding had indicated that Ice Energy, whose three-man Board of Directors has Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede as member, had links with the Access Bank boss, a development observers say raises conflict of interest issues about the role of the Chairman of the presidential committee in carrying out his mandate.
Juniour relative of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede on Ice's board
Incensed by the report, Ice Energy, in a release by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Chuks Iroche, said the company, alleged by the Farouk Lawan Committee to have pocketed $2,131,166.32 in hard currency (about N345.3million) in 2011 without supplying petroleum products, has no relationship whatsoever with the Access Bank boss, rather with his "junior relative", Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede.
"Aig-Imoukhuede on our Board is a younger relative of the CEO of Access Bank," Mr. Iroche said in his statement Monday.
But even this disclosure has got critics arguing that heading a committee that is considering an issue in which his close relative's company has a case to answer raises serious questions about the presidential committee chairman and his understanding of conflict of interest dilemma in assignments.
Available information at the CAC on the current ownership structure of Ice Energy shows that the younger Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede controls three million of the total nine million shares of the company as one of the three directors, and some sources believe he is still on the company's board as a proxy of the Access Bank's MD, a charge Ice Energy has denied.
Mr. Iroche, who also used the statement to absolve his company of any complicity in the alleged massive fraudulent activities by marketers in the fuel subsidy scam, said Ice Energy did not appear before the Farouk Lawan probe committee because no invitation was extended to it, contrary to claims by the committee that it flagrantly ignored same.
Similarly, he claimed that allegations by the former House Committee that his company collected huge foreign exchange for products not supplied as well as claims that Ice Energy benefitted from subsidy payments, were false, as the oil firm had written to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to cancel the importation allocation it received when it became obvious that it would not be able to meet the deadline set for product delivery.
Having been indicted by the Farouk-Lawan probe panel, Ice will have to explain this to the House of Representatives, anti-corruption agencies and presidential subsidy verification committte to clear its name.
Network of intrigues
The web of intrigues involving the two Aig-Imoukhuedes, who often answer to similar abreviations of their names as Aig Aig-Imoukhuede, is no less evident in another position held by the younger relative in another company, Marina Securities, whose links with Access Bank is so overtly undeniable.
Marina Securities is a Lagos-based stock-brokerage and portfolio management firm, with Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as chairman of the Board and Aig Aig-Imoukhuede as director, Wealth Management.
Curiously, two other directors of the company, Idaere Ogan and Angela Jones, are all senior officials of Access Bank Plc.
While Mr. Ogan is a member of the Audit Committee of Access Bank, Ms Jones still works as General Manager in charge of Wealth Management in Access Bank, according to information available on the company's official website.
Despite the bold-face posturing of the Ice Energy management, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the GMD of Access Bank, would still preside in judgement over the activities of companies indicted in the fuel subsidy scam, including one belonging to his "younger relative", except the president thinks otherwise.
It is not clear if Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede availed both the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and President Jonathan the full disclosure of his knowledge of the involvement of his "younger relative" in the ownership of Ice Energy before he accepted the appointment as head of the presidential verification and reconciliation committee.
Public officials and bank chiefs in Nigeria often sit on boards of several companies using fronts or proxies, tapping their connections to facilitate businesses for the firms.
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