A minister in President Goodluck Jonathan’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) is the brain behind an unregistered company at the centre of a N2.7bn oil subsidy fraud, highly placed sources within the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the State Security Services (SSS) have told Huhuonline.com.
The puzzle over the ownership of a certain Pinnacle Contractors Limited — which could not be traced in the database of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) yet received a total of N2.7bn subsidy claims in 2011 without supplying a single litre of fuel — has been on since September 2012, having been listed by the Ministry of Finance as one of the companies deserving investigation by EFCC.
Earlier in the month, the Anti-Corruption Network — a non-governmental organisation headed by Honourable Dino Melaye, erstwhile member of the Federal House of Representatives — had staged a street protest at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja, demanding immediate unravelling of the identity of the company.
However, intelligence sources have now fingered a serving minister as owner of the unregistered company, and have unearthed the behind-the-scene moves by powerful political forces to harass the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the EFCC out of the company’s case. Particularly, they have been quick to flaunt in the face of the anti-corruption officials, the fate of EFCC’s pioneer chairman after he took on Former Governor James Ibori’s matter.
Although the sources held back the minister’s sex, they confirmed that the said minister is on the White Paper committee on some reports on the oil sector submitted to the president recently.
“I can confirm to you that the minister involved is well connected,” one of the sources said. “There are reports that high-ranking powers could be offended if the EFCC goes further with the investigations.”
The unregistered company secured bank accounts by cloning of Forms Co2 and 45 of another company with a similar name registered with the CAC, an 18th-September search at the CAC revealing that only Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited is registered.
The Federal Government had announced in August that Pinnacle Contractors Limited was one of 25 companies that mismanaged different sums of subsidy funds.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Pinnacle Contractors Limited received N1.2bn for importing fuel into the country when the vessel that supposedly supplied the fuel was nowhere around a location where it could have done so. It got another N1.5bn for supplying fuel through a vessel that was already out of operation at the time of supply.
Officials of CAC claim that Pinnacle Contractors Limited could never have been registered since Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited had already been registered.
Registered on 18th September 1981 with registration number RC 8740, Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited has its registered office at 12, Iwehen Street, Benin City, Edo State, and has as directors, Samuel Okhorutomwen Uwadie and Samuel Omorodion Iwadie. It was registered as representatives of importers, exporters, and manufacturers, and as distributors of general goods.
