The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has so far recovered over N201 billion from oil firms defaulting on royalties to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the 3 per cent statutory payment to the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The Chairman of the Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, stated this while appearing at the Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
He said the sum of N30 billion has been transferred to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Bawa explained: “Here are some of the things we have done in indirect recoveries in November 2022. We recovered $354m for the NUPRC in terms of royalties that one of the oil companies has not paid. Our investigations led to that recovery.
“For the recoveries that we’re making for NDDC, for instance, between now and probably next week, we’ll transfer to them about N30bn and about $30m.
“These are recoveries we have made from oil companies that have refused to pay the 3% statutory payment to NDDC,” he explained.
While declining to identify the companies involved, he added: “It is only from one company that the $354m was recovered. I have forgotten the period, but it is an investigation done by our Lagos command, and we have evidence of payment that the said company made. Because of the sensitivity of some of these things, we will leave it at that.”
The EFCC boss also said that the commission has paid the sum of N136 billion into the Proceeds of Crime Account (POCA) with President Muhammadu Buhari approving that the money be channeled into the implementation of critical infrastructure.
He gave the breakdown of the amount to include N120billion, $29million, €6.6million and about £1.1million. The naira equivalent of the funds amounts to about N136,651,505,114.
Bawa said: “I want to state here that the POCA, which is the Proceeds of Crime Act, 2022, mandates that all relevant agencies must open what is called the Confiscated Assets and Properties Account in naira and foreign currencies and that all finally forfeited funds that belong to the federal government should now go into that account. And before, we had to pay the money into a designated account.
“But with POCA, this is where we now keep the different government assets recovered. And we have carried out an audit. From our EFCC recovery account, we paid N120billion and $29million, about €6.6million, and about £1.1million into that.
“And the President has sanctioned that all those monies should be utilised to provide critical infrastructure in the country. So the funds will be used for the completion of the Abuja-Kano expressway, the second Niger bridge, and the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, among other funds that the federal government is getting.”
Similarly, he said the Commission has recovered the sum of N30 billion from the corruption activities surrounding the suspended Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Idris Ahmed.
Recall that the Commission is currently prosecuting him over alleged N109 billion fraud.
Source: https://tribuneonlineng.com/