Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have grilled two former Group Managing Directors (GMDs) and three former Executive Directors (EDs) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over their roles in the transfer of $153m to some banks.
The money was transferred from NNPC’s account to the banks on the directive of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Already, one of the former executive directors has admitted involvement in the transfer of the cash.
An EFCC source told The Nation that “We are, however, not stopping at this bend because we discovered that some of these officials were used for many illicit transactions.
“By the time we extend our investigation to crude oil lifting, you will appreciate the sleaze during the tenure of Diezani as minister of Petroleum Resources. A syndicate was used to perpetrate the fraud in the oil firm”, the source said.
An NNPC source confirmed the interrogation of the former officials.
The source said: “This corporation is following the development. The EFCC is on top of the $153million palaver; it has actually been inviting some of our past officials for questioning.
“The good thing is that some of these former officials are still on NNPC’s pension roll. They can be recalled at any time for clarification of some issues.”
The source added that NNPC could not react to the ruling of a Federal High Court on the $153million without “getting necessary legal advice.
“Our board is meeting on the $153million saga and other matters on January 30. What we are doing now is to get the proceedings of the Federal High Court of Friday. We have a very articulate Legal Department which will study it.
“NNPC is a corporation with a board and a chairman. The legal advice will determine our next step after the board’s meeting.
“If the court indicts any former officials, the corporation can still exercise disciplinary control on them.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC has started the process of seizing a sprawling estate in Yenagoa, which was traced to Mrs Alison-Madueke.
The asset will be placed on temporary forfeiture pending the arraignment and trial of the ex-minister either in Nigeria or in the United Kingdom.
A source in the commission said: “Since we recorded the breakthrough, our legal unit has been working round the clock on how to seek the nod of the court for a temporary forfeiture order.
“We have obtained relevant data from Bayelsa State Geographic Information System. As a matter of fact, the estate is coded as BGIS/OK/02/16/310 by the agency.
“We will file the required application for the seizure of the estate pending the arraignment and the conclusion of the trial of the ex-Minister. This is a standard benchmark allowed by the law. We are certainly heading for the court.”
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