N789.6m subsidy fraud: Witness says PPPRA did not investigate documents of indicted marketers

A prosecution witness, Victor Chidok, on Monday said the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency did not investigate some documents allegedly used by three oil marketers to obtain N789.6 million fuel subsidy payment.
Chidok, Head of the Lagos Zonal Office of the PPPRA, disclosed this while testifying at the trial of the marketers before an Ikeja High Court.
The marketers, Adamu Maula, George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah, were charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The accused persons are being prosecuted alongside their firms, Downstream Energy Sources Limited and Rocky Energy Limited, before Justice Lateefat Okunnu.
The EFCC alleged that the marketers did not import the 10,862 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit, for which they had received subsidy payment.
Chidok, who was led in evidence by EFCC’s Counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), confirmed that Downstream Energy Sources Limited participated in the Petroleum Support Fund.
He said the PSF was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2006 to modulate the price of petroleum products in the domestic market.
Chidok said the PPPRA was saddled with the responsibility of regulating the price of the products and ensuring that oil marketers imported the volume of products allocated to them.
The witness said the agency had a check-list of 27 documents, which must be presented by all marketers before their subsidy payments are processed.
Chidok said the accused persons submitted some documents relating to a ship-to-ship transfer between MT La Katrina and MT D. Roseline, offshore in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
He said the documents, including Cargo Manifest, Haulage Report and Certificate of Cargo Transfer of the vessels, showed that the transaction took place between January 2, 2011 and January 3, 2011.
Chidok said the documents were issued by an inspectorate company, Inspectorate Marine Services Limited, which the marketers claimed had witnessed the transaction.
He said: “Before 2011, we depended solely on documents to verify subsidy payments.
“We did not investigate the documents submitted by the marketers.
“We don’t have representatives offshore and we treated those documents on face value.
“We only checked the documents to confirm if they tallied with our check-list.”
The witness said the PPPRA had in December 2011, introduced additional measures to ensure transparency in the importation of petroleum products.
He said the measures included the use of Llyod Intelligence to track vessels and also getting a direct transaction confirmation from suppliers off-shore.
When cross-examined by the defence counsel, led by Prof. Alfred Kasamu (SAN), Chidok admitted that the PPPRA witnessed the discharge of the products at the Apapa jetty in Lagos.
He said: “The products were discharged according to the volume allocated to downstream for importation.
“The PPPRA only verify when the daughter vessel (MT D.Roseline) came into Nigeria before discharge.”
The case was adjourned to July 31 for continuation of trial.