On Monday, a group of lawyers petitioned the Minister of Finance to establish a judicial commission of inquiry to look into the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL). This move further strengthened calls for the investigation of the former group CEO.
The attorneys explicitly called for a probe into the $4 billion Kyari allegedly spent on refinery repairs, acting on behalf of the Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law.
They claimed that massive corruption, tax evasion, official abuse, and embezzlement of public monies were hallmarks of Kyari’s leadership.
Citing a proposal by a group of private sector companies to fix the three refineries for roughly $1 billion, the attorneys, led by Barrister Benjamin Theophilus, asserted that the amount spent on refinery repairs was exaggerated.
The petition outlined a number of issues, such as the purportedly dishonest distribution of crude oil profits, the theft of funds in the AKK Gas Pipeline Project, the fraud involving fuel subsidies, and the value review of NNPCL’s loans backed by crude oil.
“Mele Kyari is alleged to have collaborated with certain consultants and contractors involved in the refineries rehabilitation projects to conceal the actual cost of the contracts and evade taxes due to the Federal Government.
“Seven years ago, there was a proposal by a consortium of private sector firms to repair the 3 refineries, with a total capacity of 445 kbpd (thousand barrels per day) for about $1 billion.
“NNPCL under Mele Kyari has expended $1.5 billion on the Port Harcourt Refinery, $1.5 billion on the Warri Refinery and $1 billion on the Kaduna Refinery bringing the total of what Kyari spent on the refineries to more than $4 billion as opposed to the $1 billion that the consortium has requested for all the refineries.
“Even after expending these inflated sums, the refineries are unable to produce gasoline without using large quantities of chemicals from Indorama. This is a monumental project cost inflation as about $500 million is sufficient to build a brand new simple 600 kbpd refinery that will operate at a better efficiency.
“There is credible information that crude oil allocations were diverted, and financial transactions were carried out under the guise of ‘pipeline security’ at a suspicious rate of 80,000 barrels per day, with no transparent process or accountability mechanism.
“The AKK Pipeline Project, initially valued at $5 billion has been riddled with irregularities in the award and execution of contracts. Despite several budgetary provisions and foreign financing arrangements, there is little physical progress or transparency in fund utilization.
“There have been repeated allegations of fraud tied to the payment of fuel subsidy. It is instructive to note that while the rest of the world witnessed a decline in fuel consumption in 2020 due to COVID, NNPCL increased its imports of petroleum products during the same period.
“Under Mele Kyari, NNPCL took various crude-backed loans which hit $21.565 billion since 2019. Aside from mortgaging future production, the structure of these loans disadvantage Nigeria as upside from trading Nigeria’s crude in the international market was ceded to traders,” parts of the petition read.
The Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law demanded that Kyari’s term be thoroughly investigated and that any public funds that were discovered to have been embezzled be returned.
In order to look into possible tax evasion and false declarations, the attorneys also demanded cooperation from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
They emphasized that there is no way to compromise on the demand for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the NNPCL during the past five years.
The group believes that the planned commission should be composed of morally upright Nigerians, with a former Supreme Court justice serving as its head.
The copies were given to a Ministry of Finance official on behalf of the minister after the petition was filed to them.
