Senate Gives CBN Governor 72 Hours Ultimatum To Appear Over ‘Missing $9.5 Million
The Senate has given the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, an ultimatum of seventy-two hours to appear before it to explain. what led to the alleged disappearance of $9.5m interest accrued from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) investment.
The summon is the sequel to the consideration of a report by the Auditor-General for the Federation, which probed the spendings of federal government agencies.
According to Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo South led Senate Committee on Public Accounts, the principal sums deposited, the tenor, and rate of interest were shrouded in secrecy.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Urhoghide who noted that there are many issues the CBN Governor needs to respond to corroborate some statements of account, said that Apex Bank Governor has till Thursday this week to appear to address those issues before the Committee.
Petroleum profit tax (PPT) is a tax applicable to upstream operations in the oil industry.
It is particularly related to rents, royalties, margins, and profit-sharing elements associated with oil mining, prospecting, and exploration leases.
It would be recalled that the committee had two weeks ago summoned the officials of the apex bank over the alleged disappearance of the fund.
The Apex Bank however failed to appear before the Senators.
The report read, “During the examination of transfers to Foreign Excess PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude Accounts, it was observed that during the year 2016, amount totaling $6 million and $3.5 million were credited to the Foreign PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude Account as interest on funds investments.
“The authority for placing the funds which yielded the above interests totaling $9.5 million in a deposit account, the principal sums deposited, the tenor and rate of interest were not made available for audit verification.
“This observation had also been a subject of my reports since 2017 without any positive response from Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Records made available for audit further revealed that the balance in the foreign PPT/Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude accounts as of 28th December 2016 were USD0.00 and USD251,826 respectively.
“This suggests the foreign PPT/Royalty was depleted before the year-end.
“The Accountant General has been requested to provide the authority for the funds invested, the tenor of the investment, rate unrest payable, certificate for the funds invested and forward same for audit verification.”
-Reuters