BANKS STOPPED | yorubareligion-1

Banks Stopped from Lending to Otedola, Dantata, 417 Others.

Thisdaylive. 21.9.12

•Cross River, Kwara, Zamfara State Governments also affected
Obinna Chima

In a move aimed at strengthening financial stability and instilling discipline in the banking sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has barred banks in the country from extending further credit to 113 companies and 419 directors/shareholders, including those belonging to Mr. Femi Otedola, Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, former Power Minister, Prof. Bart Nnaji, Mrs Elizabeth Ebi and Dr. Wale Babalakin.
The CBN arrived at this decision as a result of the reluctance by the debtors to pay back their loans despite the purchase of the debts at an agreed price by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
In a new circular dated September 17, and obtained exclusively by THISDAY, the central bank stated that the restriction would apply to individuals, organisations, companies as well as principal shareholders and directors of companies where the outstanding value of loans purchased by AMCON amounted to N5 billion or above as at the day of purchase, without regard to the actual amount paid by AMCON.
The circular, which was signed by CBN’s Director, Banking Supervision, Mrs. A. O. Martins, stated that “it has become necessary to stop debtors who failed to repay their loans to banks and had these loans subsequently transferred to AMCON, from further enjoying credit facilities from Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) until they fully repay agreed outstandings to AMCON.”
The circular, which was accompanied by a detailed list of the blacklisted debtors, showed that worst hit by the directive are Zenon Petroleum, owned by Otedola, which was indebted to banks to the tune of N192.4 billion; MRS Holdings Limited, which belongs to Dantata – N119.98 billion; Seawolf Limited – N98.32 billion; Arik Air Limited, belonging to Arumemi-Ikhide – N85.481 billion; NITEL Plc/M-Tel – N71.547 billion; and Capital Oil and Gas Limited, which belongs to Ifeanyi Ubah – N48.014 billion.
Others include Falcon Securities, whose Managing Director, Mr. Peter Ololo, was arraigned alongside several bank executives in 2009 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – N162.9 billion; Rockson Engineering Limited, owned by Arumemi-Ikhide – N60.475 billion; BGL Securities – N6.44 billion; Rahamaniyya Oil & Gas Limited – N46.38 billion; Bi-Courtney Limited – N20.214 billion; and Geometrics Engineering, owned by Nnaji – N19.76 billion.
The restriction also applies to: Aero Contractors Company, owned by the family of Olorogun Michael Ibru - N32.579 billion; Tinapa Business Resort – N18.509 billion; Nestoil Limited, belonging to oil and gas entrepreneur, Ernest Azudialu – N13.506 billion; Dorman Long Engineering – N9.667 billion; Ascott Offshore Nig. Ltd, belonging to former banker, Henry Imasekha and the Berkley Group – N64.728 billion; Gitto Constuzioni – N11.838 billion; and Dansa Foods – N14.880 billion, whose directors, Sani and Abdul Dangote, are the brothers of business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Commercial banks were also directed not to grant further credit to Cross River and Zamfara States because of the failure of the Tinapa Business Resort and Accountant General, Ministry of Finance, Zamfara to pay back loans collected respectively.
The restriction, according to the central bank, came into effect from the date of the circular and shall remain “until full liquidation of agreed indebtedness to AMCON”.
For Zenon Petroleum whose initial debt of N192.423 billion was priced by AMCON at N140.999 billion, the memo showed that “negotiations are ongoing and with fairly clear roadmap”. It also revealed that MRS Holdings’ debt of N119.986 billion, acquired by AMCON at a price of N91.620 billion has been “restructured and is performing”.
Similarly, while the remark on Seawolf’s debt of N98.328 billion that AMCON priced at N88.496 billion was put at “negotiations ongoing,” it showed also that Arik Air’s debt of N85.481 billion which was acquired by AMCON at N62.970 billion has been “restored but there is a moratorium”.
It also showed that while Capital Oil and Gas’ N48.014 billion has been “restructured and awaiting performance,” Rockson’s debt of N60.475 billion, which was acquired by AMCON at N36.331 billion, is still “pending”.
To ensure compliance, the CBN warned that any bank that flouts the guidelines would be made to make an immediate provision of 100 per cent of total principal and interest outstanding in the account of the customer and related parties, in addition to whatever regulatory penalties the CBN may decide to impose.

Ex-Elf boss Floch-Prigent extradited to Togo in fraud probe.

BBC. 16.9.12

Former French oil chief executive Loik Le Floch-Prigent has been extradited from Ivory Coast to Togo on suspicion of involvement in a massive fraud.
Mr Le Floch-Prigent, the former chief of the Elf firm, was held on Saturday and is due to appear before a judge on Monday for questioning, reports say.
His lawyer in Paris said the charges were politically motivated.
Mr Le Floch-Prigent has served jail terms for corruption in France related to his time as head of Elf in 1989-93.
The 68-year-old was detained on Saturday as part of an investigation into a complaint from a businessman who alleged that he was victim of a $48m (£30m) fraud scheme, according to AFP news agency.
Mr Le Floch-Prigent has served a five-year sentence for embezzling more that $350m of public funds during his reign at Elf.
He currently works as an oil industry consultant, reports say.

BACK

NNPC shortchanged Federation Accounts by N3tn – Reps investigation.

Punch. Lagos. Nigeria. 7.6.12

by Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja

The House of Representatives Joint Committee on Finance, Petroleum Upstream, Petroleum Downstream and Gas Resources has recommended that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation should refund N3.08tn to the Federation Account.
The committee was on September 22, 2011 mandated to investigate how NNPC had been remitting oil revenues into the Federation Account in order to make accurate projection for the national budget.
It was also saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining NNPC’s level of compliance with the Constitution on the matter.
In its report, obtained by our correspondent on Wednesday in Abuja, the committee said the N3.08tn was the balance of funds the corporation under-remitted to the Federation Account between 2004 and 2011.
The committee said the corporation had no right to make direct deductions from the revenue accruing to the federation by hiding under Section 7 of the NNPC Act.
The report read in part, “In 2005, NNPC short-changed the federation by $193.645m through domestic crude sale at a discount of $1.211 per barrel on the 159,898,543 barrels of crude taken in 2005. The loss of $193.645m was an equivalent of N25.473bn based on the prevailing exchange rate then.
“NNPC further compounded the federation’s woes by under-remitting the under-invoiced domestic crude revenue by N289bn in 2005. Out of the total revenue of N1.145tn accruable to the federation from domestic crude oil sales to NNPC in 2005, NNPC remitted only N0.856tn.”
It added that since the corporation did not claim any liability on subsidy for 2005 against the Federal Government, it was wrong for it to lay claim to such.
NNPC had claimed a total liability of N354bn as at the end of December 2005 against the government, which the committee said was false.
“Instead, it was NNPC that was owing the federation the sum of N678bn through under-remittances,” the report stated.
The report also indicated that “between 2006 and 2008, NNPC short-changed the federation by N1.214tn through unauthorised discount and under-remittance of under-invoiced domestic crude revenue.”
On transactions between 2009 and 2011, the report stated, “NNPC in 2009 to June 2011 followed the same trend of taking unauthorised discount on domestic crude it allocated to itself and continued to underpay the under-invoiced domestic crude sales.
“While the federation lost N67bn on unauthorised discount between 2009 and June 2011, the loss through under-payment of under-invoiced value is N1.388tn, resulting in total loss to the federation of N1.455tn on domestic crude supplies to NNPC between 2009 and June 2011.”
The report added that based on NNPC’s audited accounts, it was clear that the nation lost over $3.675bn through false claims by multinational oil companies under dubious Carry Agreements.
According to the report, the Carry Agreements were the creation of the Joint Venture operators to confuse and create an avenue to short-change the nation.
It said though the Petroleum Support Fund was created in 2006 to take care of subsidy payments, NNPC should, however, not hide under it to make direct deductions.
Under general recommendations, the committee added that the Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, review the whole concept of Carry Agreements with the international oil companies in order to reduce corruption and wastage.
The committee said, “That the four carry partners namely: Shell, Elf, Mobil and Chevron, whose over-bloated claims to reimbursement to $3.675bn between 2004 and 2006 should be made to refund the sum.
“That NNPC should refund the sum of N44.932bn, which it paid to itself as cash call in 2006. NNPC should refund the sum of $3.273bn, which accrued from 48 million barrels of crude, which the corporation concealed in 2006.”