A police report has found Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, a notorious oil baron guilty of stealing about N43, 291 Billion from the oil subsidy in 2011.
The report from the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Ikoyi Lagos said Ubah and four other staff of Capital Oil namely: Executive Director, Operation, Mr. Orji Joseph; General Manager, Operations, Mr. Oguokiri Chibuzor; Depot Manager, Mr. Okorie Onuabuchi and Head of Training, Mr. Nsikan Usoro, all connived and stole the huge sums from the Federal Government.
The police, in the report signed by Mr. Ayotunde Ogunshakin, a Commissioner of Police, alleged that Capital Oil, its management, its associates and proxies, forged documents, made fraudulent representations, obtained under false pretence, and stole Federal Government money by claiming monies paid on the transactions
The report said “Import duty certifications, bill of ladings, Letters of Credits (LCs)/Form Ms and other documents were perfected with the active connivance of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), bank officials, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other port authorities clearing agencies.
The report said while Capital Oil was involved in 26 transactions covering the importation of 538,740,000,000 litres of petrol and was paid N43.291 billion as subsidy claims in 2011, irregular claims were made based on fraudulent fabrication and forged documents in which about N43.291 billion was paid to Capital Oil as subsidy claims.
According to the report seen by Pointblanknews.com, irregularities were in the form of alterations, wrong reference numbers and duplication of vessels, coupled with cargo quantity inflation.
The report said, “these fraudulent practices were formatted from the point of ship to ship transactions involving mother vessel and daughter vessel documentations, cargo quantity inflation and other underhand practices perfected to undermine transparency in the petroleum subsidy payment process.”
At interrogation, the Police Investigative report noted that:
“He confirmed that the two companies trade on the approval of DPR and maintain different assets. He averred that the operational/transactional difficulties necessitated the formation and use of Oil Force to format transactions.
“This was due to the heavy indebtedness of Capital Oil and Gas to the banks and that the decision was taken to gain customer confidence.
“He insisted that Access Bank Plc financed the infrastructural development of the two companies and 70 per cent of the their import transactions are done through Access Bank,” the report stated.
The Police in its report stated that “At the conclusion of these ongoing actions, a consolidated report will be submitted on a prima facie case of conspiracy to commit felony, money laundering, forgery, stealing, obtaining by false pretence and economic sabotage against Capital Oil and Gas, Ifeanyi Ubah and those found to has conspired, colluded, or aided the culprits,” the police informed the presidential committee’s chairman.