The Nigerian House of Representatives has unearthed $300m belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “hidden in a Polaris Bank account for years.”
The Ad hoc Committee on Recovered Loots and Assets of Government, in its resumed hearing on Thursday, in Abuja, sought to know from the financial institution the interest that accrued to the money since 2012.
But the bank’s Acting Managing Director, Innocent Ike, insisted that the fund was not hidden, but deposited appropriately by NNPC.
However, the complainant and former public prosecutor with the defunct Special Presidential Investigative Panel on government assets and loot recovery, Tosin Ojaomo, disagreed.
Maintaining that the transaction was shrouded in secrecy, the ex-prosecutor stated, “The bank did not disclose anything; it secretly kept the money. It was when the presidential panel got wind of the hidden money, arrested the bank managers, interrogated and started prosecuting them that they admitted that the money was with them.
“Upon discovery, the NNPC petitioned the house in its quest to recover the money, having failed to cause the bank to release it on the corporation’s request.”
The MD also told the committee that the money did not generate interest during the period, stating that current accounts do not yield returns.
According to him, the whole money has been paid to the corporation in tranches. But he failed to tender documented evidence to back up his claims as requested by the legislators.
Documents available to the committee showed that about $32m of the lump sum remained unaccounted for.
The bank chief executive equally denied that the money was dormant in the account, clarifying that his organisation lent out the deposit to oil and gas companies and power sector operators to boost the economy.
In a unanimous resolution, the panel adjourned to another date to enable the bank tender concrete documents backing the payment to the NNPC.
