Reps Probe NNPC’s Alleged $6.8bn Fraud

The House of Representatives, yesterday, started an all-inclusive investigation into alleged fraudulent activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, with Vitol and Transfigura Commodity Trading Firms.

This was sequel to a motion entitled Urgent Need to Investigate the Alleged Connivance of the Nigerian National Corporation, NNPC, with Swiss Oil Dealers to Rob Nigeria Billion of Dollars, moved by Abiodun Balogun (APC, Ogun State).

Balogun, in his prayers, said that the long-standing allegation of secrecy surrounding the operations of NNPC and the oil industry was recently blown open by a new report of The Berne Declaration, a Swiss non-government advocacy organisation that gave account of a series of illegal practices involving NNPC, which also allegedly connived with major Swiss oil trading companies to drain Nigeria of billions of dollars through the sale of crude oil below the market value.

According to him, the report, entitled Swiss Traders Opaque Deals in Nigeria, further stated that NNPC has so far duped the country of 6.8 billion dollars through some “Letter Box Companies.”

He noted that “exclusive and nontransparent” partnerships of Vitol and Transfigura with NNPC gave them over 36 percent of the market share with NNPC selling its crude oil at various discounts.
Nigerian records