Economy
Diezani Forfeits $153m to FG
By Dipo Olowookere
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources in the immediate past administration, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has forfeited $153 million she was accused of stealing from the treasury of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) during her time in office.
The alleged embezzled funds were stockpiled in Access Bank, First Bank and Sterling Bank. It was gathered that the sum of $5 million was kept with Access Bank, N9 billion with First Bank and N23 billion with Sterling Bank.
But on Friday, a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the temporary forfeiture of these monies.
In his ruling, Justice Muslim Hassan gave a 14-day ultimatum to Sterling Bank Plc and any other interested parties to prove the legitimacy of the monies before his court or else the funds would be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The order was given in favour of an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking the temporary forfeiture of the funds.
Counsel to EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, had urged Justice Hassan to order the temporary forfeiture of the funds to the Federal Government and to order Sterling Bank and others who are joined as defendants in the application, to appear in court within two weeks to explain why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the government.
Mr Oyedepo said the application was brought in under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and Section 44(2)(‘) of the 1999 Constitution, thus granting same is in the best interest of justice.
In a nine paragraph affidavit filed in support of the ex parte application, an EFCC investigator, Mr Moses Awolusi, claimed that the anti-graft agency discovered through its investigations how sometime in December 2014 Mrs Alison-Madueke invited a former Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, to her office where they hatched the plan on how a cash sum of $153m would be moved from NNPC account.
According to Mr Awolusi, the former Petroleum Minister instructed Mr Okonkwo to ensure that the money was “neither credited into any known account nor captured in any transaction platforms” of Fidelity Bank. The EFCC investigator added that Mr Okonkwo accepted and implemented the instructions given by Mrs Alison-Madueke.
He went further to say that two former Group Executive Directors of Finance and Account of NNPC, B.O.N. connived with Mrs Alison-Madueke to move the cash from NNPC, Abuja to the headquarters of Fidelity Bank in Lagos.
Mr Awolusi said that in a desperate bid by Mr Okonkwo to conceal the source of the money, he (Okonkwo) upon receiving it, instructed the Country Head of Fidelity Bank, Mr Martin Izuogbe, to take $113,310,000 cash out of the money to the Executive Director, Commercial and Institutional Bank, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Lanre Adesanya for keeps.
He added that another $40 million was taken in cash to the Executive Director, Public Sector Accountant, First Bank, Mr Dauda Lawal, to keep, that money was then taken to Stanley Lawson, a former group executive director of Finance and accounts at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to purchase the Le Meridien in Port Harcourt.
The investigator said out of the $113,310,000 handed over to Mr Adesanya, a sum of $108,310,000 was invested in an off-balance sheet investment using Sterling Asset Management Trustees Limited, adding that a sum $108,310,000 was subsequently changed to N23b and saved in Sterling Bank.
Mr Awolusi said that EFCC had recovered the N23.4 billion in draft and had registered it as an exhibit marked, EFCC 01. The investigator said the EFCC had also recovered another $5 million out of the money kept with the MD of Access Bank Plc, Mr Herbert Wigwe.
According to him, the $5 million was recovered in a draft and had been registered as an exhibit marked, EFCC 02. Also, he alleged that First Bank’s ED had converted the $40 million kept with him to N9 billion which has also been recovered by the anti-graft agency and registered it as Exhibit EFCC 03.
Justice Hassan adjourned till January 24, 2017, for the respondents to appear in court to state why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has been asked by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to suspend the implementation of the controversial tax laws.
In a reaction to the tax reform acts, the president of the group, Mr Afam Osigwe (SAN), the suspension of the laws would allow for a proper investigation into allegations of alterations in the gazetted and harmonised copies.
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, alleged that some parts of the laws passed by the parliament were different from the gazetted copy.
To address the issues raised, the NBA said it is “imperative that a comprehensive, open, and transparent investigation be conducted to clarify the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the laws and to restore public confidence in the legislative process.”
“Until these issues are fully examined and resolved, all plans for the implementation of the Tax Reform Acts should be immediately suspended,” the association declared.
It noted that the controversies “raise grave concerns about the integrity, transparency, and credibility of Nigeria’s legislative process.”
“These developments strike at the very heart of constitutional governance and call into question the procedural sanctity that must attend lawmaking in a democratic society,” it noted.
“Legal and policy uncertainty of this magnitude has far-reaching consequences. It unsettles the business environment, erodes investor confidence, and creates unpredictability for individuals, businesses, and institutions required to comply with the law. Such uncertainty is inimical to economic stability and should have no place in a system governed by the rule of law.
“Nigeria’s constitutional democracy demands that laws, especially those with profound economic and social implications, emerge from processes that are transparent, accountable, and beyond reproach. Anything short of this undermines public trust and weakens the foundation upon which lawful governance rests.
“We therefore call on all relevant authorities to act swiftly and responsibly in addressing this controversy, in the overriding interest of constitutional order, economic stability, and the preservation of the rule of law,” the organisation stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Demand for hot stocks, including MRS Oil Plc, buoyed the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.52 per cent on Tuesday, December 23.
The energy company was one of the three price gainers for the session as it chalked up N19.69 to sell at N216.59 per share versus the previous day’s value of N196.90 per share.
Further, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained N2.95 to close at N56.75 per unit versus N53.80 per unit and Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 84 Kobo to N9.29 per share from Monday’s N8.45 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation went up by N10.95 billion to N2.125 trillion from N2.125 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rose by 18.31 points to 3,570.37 points from 3,552.06 points.
Yesterday, the NASD bourse recorded a price loser, the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), which gave up 17 Kobo to close at N33.70 per unit against the previous trading value of N33.87 per unit.
The volume of securities traded at the session went down by 97.6 per cent to 297,902 units from the previous day’s 12.6 million units, the value of securities decreased by 98.5 per cent to N10.5 million from N713.6 million, and the number of deals remained flat at 32 deals.
By value, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended as the most actively traded stock on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units exchanged for N16.4 billion. This was followed by Okitipupa Plc, which traded 178.9 million units valued at N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
In terms of volume, also on a year-to-date basis, InfraCredit Plc led the chart with a turnover of 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion. Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc ranked second with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, while Impresit Bakolori Plc followed with the sale of 536.9 million units valued at N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
It was another bullish trading session for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as it closed higher by 0.59 per cent on Tuesday.
The market further rallied due to continued interest in large and mid-cap stocks on the exchange by investors rebalancing their portfolios for the year-end.
Yesterday, Aluminium Extrusion sustained its upward trajectory after it further appreciated by 9.96 per cent to N14.90, as Austin Laz gained 9.81 per cent to close at N2.91, Custodian Investment improved by 9.69 per cent to N38.50, and First Holdco soared by 9.35 per cent to N50.30.
Conversely, Royal Exchange declined by 7.22 per cent to N1.80, Champion Breweries shrank by 6.57 per cent to N15.65, NASCON lost 5.36 per cent to trade at N105.05, Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 5.28 per cent to N3.77, and Japaul went down by 4.51 per cent to N2.33.
At the close of business, 29 shares ended on the gainers’ table and 27 shares finished on the losers’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
This raised the All-Share Index (ASI) by 895.06 points to 153,354.13 points from 152,459.07 points and lifted the market capitalisation by N579 billion to N97.772 trillion from the previous day’s N97.193 trillion.
VFD Group finished the day as the busiest stock after it recorded a turnover of 192.0 million units worth N2.1 billion, GTCO exchanged 63.5 million units valued at N5.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 49.8 million units for N1.0 billion, First Holdco sold 45.8 million units valued at N2.3 billion, and Secure Electronic Technology transacted 38.3 million units worth N28.4 million.
In all, market participants bought and sold 677.4 million units valued at N20.8 billion in 27,589 deals compared with the 451.5 million units worth N13.0 billion traded in 33,327 deals on Monday, showing an improvement in the trading volume and value by 50.03 per cent and 60.00 per cent apiece, and a shortfall in the number of deals by 17.22 per cent.
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