By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The much anticipated forensic audit of Oando Plc will, any moment from now, commence, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has assured investors.
Acting Director General of SEC, Mr Abdul Zubair, gave this assurance on Tuesday when he addressed journalists on update of the different initiatives put in place by the regulatory agency.
Mr Zubair explained that the initial delay was caused when the embattled Oando ran to a Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the process.
The SEC chief said with the recent court’s ruling on the matter, which advised the indigenous oil firm to take its case to the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST), all was now set for the audit to kick off in earnest.
The forensic audit of the finances and operations of Oando Plc was earlier scheduled to commence on December 6, 2017 with nothing done yet.
But Mr Zubair said the process was still on course.
“The audit is on course. We had a little challenge, which had to do with the court case.
“But, now that the court has given its ruling, the challenge has now been resolved. We are ready to commence the audit any moment (from now),” Mr Zubair told newsmen today.
He assured that the regulatory body would always be fair to every party, emphasising that SEC was determined to protect the interest of investors.
Oando was indicted in a probe carried out by SEC, accusing the energy firm of violating some market rules.
As a result, the capital market regulator suspended the shares of Oando on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and ordered a forensic audit of the company’s books.
This was challenged by the firm at the court, but it was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The judgement was appealed at the appellate court.
Mr Zubair took charge of SEC after Mr Mounir Gwarzo was suspended from office as the DG of SEC by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.
It was speculated that Mr Gwarzo was suspended because he refused to stop the forensic audit of Oando, which is led by Mr Adewale Tinubu.
Adedapo Adesanya