Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, the owner of Pinnacle Contractors, has debunked allegations of involvement in a N2.7bn fuel subsidy scam as well as those describing it as a faceless company.
Whistleblowing group, Anti-Corruption Network had accused Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu as being the face behind the N2.7bn oil subsidy fraud allegedly perpetrated by Pinnacle Contractors, calling for his sack as a minister as well as his removal as Chairman of the White Paper Committee on Nuhu Ribadu’s Petroleum Revenue Task Force Committee.
But in a statement released on Tuesday, Masters Oil refuted that the minister has any links with Pinnacle, and branded media reports to that effect as a smear campaign aimed at discrediting the company.
The release, in full, reads:
“In recent times, there appears to be a sustained media campaign to smear the image of our company, Masters Energy and its subsidiary, Pinnacle Contractors on the one hand, and that of the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu on the other hand.
“It is not in our policy to join issues with our detractors on the pages of the newspapers. In keeping with the spirit of our policy, we have maintained a dignified silence on the assumption that the facts will speak for themselves.
However, we have now decided to break from our usual tradition of silence and speak up in order to lay the facts out to the public, lest falsehood will be dished to unsuspecting members of the public as facts
“The Management of Masters Energy Oil & Gas Limited wishes to, and hereby refutes the false, misguided, malicious and misleading reports in the media linking the Wogu family with Pinnacle contractors Ltd and state that we duly acquired Pinnacle contractors Ltd from the Wogu family on the 23rd day of March 2010. The business sales/takeover agreement between Masters Energy oil and gas Ltd and Pinnacle contractors Ltd is hereby attached.
“The Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu has no stake in Pinnacle Contractors. For the avoidance of doubt, let us restate here that he has NO HAND in the company and he is NOT a signatory to Pinnacle Contractors account. The political opportunist and perpetual election losers who have joined the fray to call for the minister’s resignation without checking the facts should look for credible issues to use against the minister and not the issue of ownership of Pinnacle Contractors.
“All those making desperate efforts to smear his name and drag him down, using the so called subsidy scam, should understand that using the issue of alleged subsidy scam to attack Pinnacle Contractors or the minister cannot withstand elementary scrutiny in the face of hard facts. It is unfortunate that some people will do anything to smear other people’s reputation without even considering the implication on their businesses.
“The presidential committee on the verification of subsidy payment deems this clarification necessary in view of the public interest generated by the false reports and the purported indictment of the company. While we will not join issues with the committee, it will also be of public interest to note that the attached extract of the report of Ernst & Young, a reputable audit firm hired by the committee did not indict pinnacle contractors ltd
“We also wish to state further that:
Contrary to reports you may have read, our company Pinnacle Contractors Limited is a registered company with CAC with RC No: 419968
The petroleum products for which the subsidy claim was made was actually imported into the country and sold in the country as evident in the bill of lading, certificate of clearance and reports of the various regulatory agencies.
Pinnacle Contractors is not a faceless organisation. It has employees; it pays its taxes; it pays VAT and also has its own bank account. You cannot have all these in place if your company is not registered. You cannot have a tax number if you are not a registered company; you cannot have a VAT number if you are not a registered company, except our detractors would want Nigerians to believe that it is possible to do all these without having the appropriate registration in place.
“Therefore, the issue of subsidy scam does not arise in the case of Pinnacle Contractors because the product was brought into Nigeria and sold at a regulated price. The difference between the market price and the regulated price is the subsidy element, which we are entitled to make claim on. Pinnacle Contractors have not made a claim on anything other than the product it brought in and sold to Nigerians at the regulated Price.”
Other documents obtained by Huhuonline.com show that Pinnacle Contractors had been doing business in the oil industry without a history of underhand dealings. For example, a letter dated 12th August 2012 from South African company, Petrocam, to the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), signed by its director, Shiraz Gany, confirmed the sale of 9,993.647MT of premium motor spirit (PMS) to Pinnacle Contractors Limited on 6th August 2011 with such documents as bill of lading, cargo manifest, certificate of origin and certificate of quantity.
Previous correspondences of Pinnacle equally negated claims by the Anti-Corruption Network that its address is at Plot 1227 Oka Akoko Close, Garki Area 11, Abuja. A Pinnacle Contractors Limited Letter to the Presidential Committee on Subsidy Payment, dated 11th July 2012, instead gave the company’s addresses as Suite 215, Jinifa Plaza, Central Business District (CBD) Abuja, and 40 Wogu Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Pinnacle further traced its alleged complicity in the N2.7bn fraud to a case mistaken identity involving the vessels, Phillips Louisiana (Louisiana Getty) and MT Favour (Lousiana Getty), and tendered the following docum
