Headlines
NPA denies operating secret, unapproved foreign accounts
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has dismissed a report that it operates two secret foreign accounts, saying it only operates two USD-denominated domiciliary accounts that were approved by the Federal Government.
It said its management runs transparent operations and gives a premium to due process in the execution of its core mandates.
In a statement by its General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Nasiru Ibrahim,
the compelling need to set the records straight and disabuse the minds of the public informed its response to the claim.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has been drawn to a media report, suggesting that the Authority operates two secret accounts outside Nigeria, which have been allegedly looted.
“Contrary to their claims in the apparently sponsored report, which are both false and malicious, the NPA operates two USD-denominated domiciliary accounts that were approved by the Federal Government and transparently run, in accordance with agreed official safeguards emplaced by the Office of the Accountant General through the CBN and the TSA policy of the Federal government of Nigeria against possible infractions and looting.
“While the NPA management’s initial disposition was to dismiss the news report with a wave of the hand, the compelling need to set the records straight and disabuse the minds of well-meaning and unsuspecting members of the various publics on the subject matter assumed prime consideration.
“Therefore, the Management hereby states as follows:
“That a request for approval to open two accounts for the collection of service boats pilotage revenue was made to the Accountant General of the Federation in a letter dated August 26, 2016.
“That the OAGF approved the opening of the accounts which were to be opened in Zenith Bank and Fidelity Bank with their correspondent foreign banks as Citibank N.A in London and New York respectively for the purposes of collecting service boats pilotage revenue accruing to the NPA.
“That as of the time the request for approval was made, the class of revenue was being collected by Integrated Logistics Services Limited (INTELS) on behalf of the NPA from inception of the managing agent relationship which dates back to 1996.
“That there was a management agency relationship between INTELS and the NPA which gave INTELS the responsibility to monitor service boat operations and collect revenue from such operations on behalf of the NPA at an agreed commission.
“That both NPA & INTELS rely on the provision in the executed agreement to have access to view the inflow into the accounts for ease of reconciliation and to enable it to determine online real-time amounts paid by clients and the value of the invoice to send to the NPA for payment of their management services;
“That on a monthly basis, there were hundreds of payments for service boat operations that make payments directly into INTELS bank account.
“That on a periodic basis, INTELS remitted a portion of the revenue collected to the NPA and retained a significant portion in its vault, comprising commission on the collection of revenue and cost of Onne phase 4B expansion project through amortization.
“That the Management of the NPA considered this practice as being completely at variance with the requirements of Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of Government, which made it mandatory that all revenues accruing to all Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must be remitted into one consolidated TSA account in the Central bank of Nigeria.
“That Management conducted a thorough review of the executed management agency agreement it entered into with INTELS and felt the urgent need to open revenue accounts dedicated to the collection of revenue from service boat operations based on certain parameters.
“The parameters included, among others: to ensure that Government revenues no longer reside in the vaults of private operators or companies; to ensure seamless reconciliation of revenue collection from service boat operations as there were hundreds of entries per month; to enthrone accountability and transparency in the management of revenue generation and collection from service boat operations; to enhance prompt reconciliation of service boat revenue generation and collection, which will facilitate prompt payment of agency commission by the Authority to INTELS in a transparent manner; and the prompt remittance of the net revenue after deduction of agency commission into the Authority’s TSA sub-account in the CBN.
“The Management also wishes to state that all the supposed assertions and innuendos in the news report as regards secrecy and diversion of funds in the accounts are nothing but spurious and laughable concoctions and disingenuous misinformation about happenings in the NPA in the fertile imaginations of the author of the unconscionable report.
For the avoidance of doubt, the “Management states categorically that there was no how the funds in the accounts could have been secretly diverted or privatized as significant safeguards had been put in place by the Federal Government.
“In a February 13, 2017 letter of approval from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for the opening of the accounts for the collection of service boats pilotage revenue, operational modalities were approved, to wit:
” That the NPA will operate collection accounts only with two commercial banks to be designated as “Transit Account.
” That balances in these Accounts will be swept daily into the designated Treasury Single Account (TSA) Revenue Sub-Accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or as mutually agreed by all parties;
“That on no account should withdrawals be made from these Revenue Accounts;
“That participatory Banks and INTELS will write formally to the NPA to demand their collection charges on monthly basis or as may have been agreed with them;
“That the NPA, upon due confirmation, reconciliation and necessary due diligence, will forward the request to the Office of the Account General of the Federation for payment to parties; and,
“That in case of further clarifications on this matter, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation should be contacted, accordingly.
“Besides, there were additional checks mechanisms put in place with the Banks to provide internet banking for the service boat revenue collection to enable “view-only” and printing capabilities of the statements of accounts by over twenty top management staff members of the NPA.
“With the explanations supra, the Management hereby wishes to state that the specious report about two persons looting the NPA’s so-called secret accounts could not have been possible.
“We, therefore, wish to state that the current NPA management under the leadership of the Managing Director, Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, is only aware of the approved USD-denominated domiciliary accounts as stated above and not aware of secret foreign accounts as indicated in the malicious online newspaper report.
“The NPA Management runs an open administration and gives premium to due process in the execution of its core mandates.
“We, therefore, wish to urge Nigerians to take note of the Management’s commitment to transparency in its financial transactions.”
Headlines
Alleged N8.5bn Fraud: You Have Case To Answer, Lagos Court Tells NIMASA Staff, Ex-JTF Commander
Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, April 22, 2024, told a former Commander of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe (rtd.), and a staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Kime Engonzu, that they have a case to answer in the alleged N8.5bn money laundering case brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Atewe and Engonzu are standing trial on a 22-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8, 537,586,798.58, which also involves a former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and Josephine Otuaga, also a staff of NIMASA.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga, sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses and subsequently closed its case against the defendants.
However, the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed a no-case-submission.
Akpobolokemi had, in a no-case submission, filed by his lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an acquittal without having him present a defence.
Ruling on the no-case submission on Monday, Justice Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi and Otuaga, the fourth defendant.
Headlines
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, threatens to resign if Yahaya Bello is not brought to justice.
According to the EFCC Chairman, he had a telephone conversation with Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC.
“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor.
He told the media executives that the Commission has recovered more than N120billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria.
Headlines
EFCC denies disobeying court order on Yahaya Bello
The Eyewitness Reporter
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has denied the widely held claim that it flouted a court order restraining it from arresting or harassing Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State.
In a Press Statement signed by the EFCC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the Commission clearly pointed out that though Bello sought refuge in a fundamental rights enforcement action through an order granted by Justice Isa Jamil Abdulallahi of the Kogi State High Court, the order did not vitiate or nullify an order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of the former governor for the purpose of his arraignment.“The enrolled Order of the Kogi State High Court only granted an order to enforce Bello’s right to personal liberty and freedom of movement, it didn’t preclude the Federal High Court ‘to make any Order as it may deem just in the determination of the rights of the Applicant and the Respondent as may be submitted to her for consideration and determination”, he said.
He further stressed that “The Order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of Mr. Yahaya Bello for the purpose of his arraignment is not in conflict with the Order of the Kogi State High Court.
“The case before the Federal High Court is a criminal charge which is different from the fundamental rights enforcement action that is the subject of an appeal”.
Uwujaren pointed out that the EFCC had a shining track record in the prosecution of politically exposed persons and would continue to exercise its mandate in the overall interest of the nation.
” He admonished Bello to turn himself in and answer to the charges preferred against him by the Commission.
He called on all patriotic Nigerians to lend their voices in support of the Commission stressing that ” the EFCC will not relent in its quest to wrestle corruption to the ground”
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