http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/nnpc-swiss-traders-defrauding-nigeria-report/

A Swiss-based non-governmental advocacy group, Berne Declaration, in a report entitled, ‘Swiss traders’ opaque deals in Nigeria’, accused the NNPC of robbing the country of several billions of dollars in connivance with major oil trading companies based in the European nation.

Specifically, the report indicted Vitol and Trafigura, two major oil traders in Switzerland, and seven Nigerian oil importers of creating offshore subsidiaries referred to as ‘letterbox companies’ to defraud the country of over $6.8bn in subsidy payments between 2009 and 2011.

This, according to the report, is coupled with other activities such as ship-to-ship transfer to create untraceable paperwork, payment of subsidy money to non-existing importers, and partnering with politically exposed fraudsters.

The Berne Declaration said in a news release detailing its report, “Every year, the Nigerian state coffers lose billions of dollars as large volumes of oil are exported for well below the market price, and the subsidy scheme for imports of refined crude oil products is systematically defrauded.

“Ongoing investigations by the Nigerian authorities show that those Swiss traders dominant in oil exports have been making good business with dubious Nigerian import firms.”

The report, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Wednesday, stated, “The all-powerful national company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, categorised as the most opaque national oil company on the planet, itself is evidence of Nigeria’s ‘resource curse’ at work.

“The extent of the problem is illustrated by the fact that the NNPC has not published detailed financial reports since 2005! But this company, with its dozen subsidiaries operating at all levels of the supply chain, from production to distribution, cannot be ignored by anyone wanting to produce, export or import crude oil or petroleum products in Nigeria. It is here that Swiss commodity traders occupy a position of choice.”

The report alleged that NNPC was involved in shady deals with two Geneva-based commodity trading firms registered in Bermuda.

It said Vitol and Trafigura had “exclusive and un-transparent partnerships” with the NNPC, which had given them over 26 per cent of the market share.

It stated, “Instances show that sales between the NNPC and its two Swiss partners were carried out at prices lower than the market rate. This type of operation appears incongruous: Why would the NNPC sell its crude oil at a discount?

“In reality, the profit generated by these entities escapes state coffers, first, because no taxation in Bermuda is paid, since the tax on profits is zero.

“Vitol and Trafigura alone took respectively 13.44 per cent and 13.49 per cent of Nigerian crude oil exports in 2011 for a cumulative value of $6.8bn.”

The report further stated that more than 56 per cent of the oil put up for sale by the NNPC in 2011 valued at $14.004bn was sold to Swiss companies or Nigerian companies with “letterbox” subsidiaries in Switzerland.

The NNPC was also alleged to be taking advantage of the country’s failed refineries to feed its partnership with the oil dealers.

The refineries have been operating sub-optimally, but the report found that NNPC had been allocating crude to them as if they were operating at full capacity.

The excess allocations, according to the report, are sold to Swiss-based oil trading companies or local oil marketers through their fraudulent subsidiaries in Switzerland at lower prices or exchanged for refined petroleum products in shady swap contracts.

The report said, “Nigeria is the only major producing country that sells 100 per cent of its crude to private traders rather than market it itself and benefit from the resulting added value. A number of beneficiaries of export allocations are nothing but letterbox companies, whose sole merit is that they are linked to high-ranking political officials or their entourage.”

The Berne Declaration described the Nigerian oil scam as the greatest fraud Africa had ever known.

“There are two reasons underlying the creation of
these subsidiaries… In certain cases, it is a matter of benefiting from the tax that the cartons offer for companies working primarily abroad – which is undoubtedly relevant for a Nigerian importer in other case the primary motivation is to get closer to banks specialising in financing trading. This hope has often proven vain due to the reputation of Nigeria and the relative anonymity of these firms.


This is all the more so since several of these
companies have no real activities in Switzerland,
have contended themselves just with an address in a fiduciary or lawyer’s office.”


The report identifies seven major Nigerian fuel
importers as the worst culprits. They include:
MRS Group, which owns a subsidiary, called
Petrowest Services SA. MRS Group was indicted by the Technical Committee on Payment of Fuel
Subsidy for collecting tens of millions of dollars
between 2011 and 2012 that it could not back up
with documents of physical transactions.
The Presidential Committee on Verification and
reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payment later cleared MRS. The committee did not give any reasons to show that its transactions were legitimate,according to the Swiss report.

Ontario Oil and Gas limited owned by Ugo-Ngadi
Adaoha has a Swiss Subsidiary named Ontario
Trading and located at the premises of Nimex
Petroleum in Geneva. Nimex Petroleum was once
suspended from trading in Nigeria for not supplying required maritime documents.
Mrs. Ugo-Ngadi was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, in August 2012 for fraud and conspiracy but was later released on bail. Ontario was indicted for over N4 billion false subsidy claims. The report revealed that despite dropping Ontario Oil and Gas from the list of fuel importers for 2013, the company was allowed to continue its crude oil
export business.

Rahamaniyya Group, which owns a subsidiary
called Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas SA in Geneva since October 2010 is also located in the premises of the shady Nimex Petroleum which seems to be acting as an incubator for shady companies. The company was asked to reimburse over N507 million subsidy funds collected, but has not been stopped from importing fuel.

Tridax Energy and Limited and Mezcor Limited have Swiss subsidiaries named Tridax SA and Mezcor SA in Geneva. They both received N2.544 billion ($15.9 million) without importing any petroleum products. In fact, the companies received permits to import products before applying for it. The companies, according to the Swiss report, have been traced to close associates and the younger brother of the
Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Sahara Energy’s Swiss subsidiary is called Sahara
International Pte Limited. The company was
requested to reimburse the government’s N6 billion subsidy fund it falsely collected. Despite importing less fuel than they should have and have been paid for, the company is still being allowed to import fuel.

There is also the Lagos-based Aiteo Energy
Resources Limited owned by Benedict Peter and
Francis Peter. Its subsidiary in Geneva is called
Aiteo Suisse AG. Aiteo was asked to reimburse the government over N578 million in subsidy fund it falsely collected. Just like Tridax and Mezcor, Aiteo also received the permit to import fuel without requesting for it.

Efforts to reach the NNPC spokesperson, Tunmini
Green, on the agency’s reaction to the report were unsuccessful. Ms. Green’s phone was switched off.

Download full report here
http://premiumtimesng.com/business/149192-nnpc-oil-marketers-connive-swiss-oil-dealers-rob-nigeria-billions-dollars-report.html

Nawah oh. I dey fear dis our country

Btw FTC. Muah muah. I hope dey give award for being the firSt to comment. D way people dey rush am

All the fraudulent companies belong to those folks from east of the Niger.
The less than 200 billion naira per year subsidy regime has ballooned to trillions of naira.

Some of these companies with powerful backers in and outside of Government are the major perpetrators of Crude oil theft. According to the Chief of Naval Staff, the bulk of Nigeria's crude oil is stolen from crude export terminals.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/chief-of-naval-staff-major-oil-theft-occurs-at-terminals/156441/

Only the IOC's and companies with oil lifting license(s) are the ones who load crude oil from the terminals. Apart from ripping Nigeria off through heinous sweet heart bonanza oil deals in cahoot with Government officials who fatten their pocket books, they are also engaged in crude oil theft. The Government is very much aware of these happenings, but because they have vested interest in it, all we hear are Presidential sermons on how he is tackling oil theft and corruption, yet no 'Big Fish' has been caught. As far as Jonathan is concerned, its 'A LOOTA CONTINUA'(the looting continue).

The bermuda triangle here is between GEJ - DAME - 2015.

Hmmm gja

Are we sure we do not need a REVOLUTION in this country, the stealing has gone INSANE.

I've always said it, Jonathan is the most corrupt living creature alive! You can smell the stench of his sordid mind even through the tv screen! The subsidy regime under Jo was nothing but a scam caried out to finance his 2011 election. Over 1.6trillion went missing and not a single conviction! Isn't that telling of the callibre of people involved in the fraud? They messed up the House report using Otedola, and that of committee set up by the presidency itself using one of the members of the committee (forgoten his name). Today, both reports gather dust in some dingy shelf in the office of the president. They fritter away our common wealth impoverishing all of us regardless of our tribe, religion or where we come from. My heart really bleeds everytime i go out there and see the number of destitudes in our streets when i know we have more than enough to give every single nigerian a decent life. But our leaders wouldnt wanna have their people break away 4rm poverty and ignorance because that is what sustains them! They give us ashes for flour and stones for bread and we dont even know the difference cos the requisite education isnt there! They would send their wards to the best schools in US and Europe and have the gates of those within our shores which we can afford locked up over protracted strikes or at best run on obselete equipments and curriculum because they know if we get a decent education, vagabonds like them would never, even in their dreams, have the slightest chance to rule over us.

I'm apealing to us all not to repeat thesame mistake we've been making since '99. Let's give change a chance. Let's send these destiny usurpers packing in 2015! The choice is ours.

If they can discovered so much fraud like this in the middle of administration, how many will they discover at the end of the administration?

See where we go carry first for Africa. What does the future hold for the youths? This is just unfair, totally unfair. This is not just stealing of money, its the stealing of our future. They keep telling us we lose billions to pipeline vandals, what they fail to tell us is the level of stealing between the state and her institutions. Brethren, I don't know if military is d worst solution, but with these level of corruption under a supposedly democratic regime, I won't feel bad if they seize power.

.

Where are the 4,000 naira richer Igbos? They would want to tell us that Berne Declaration, Switzerland, which brought this to our knowledge is actually based in Lagos or Ibadan, and owned by a Yoruba.

^^^^^epic troll

Nigeria & massive corruption. Dis Pdp govt must b sacked in 2015 or else dis stealing wil wreck Nigeria. Dis Pdp govt is nt ready 2quench d relentless faya of corruption. Crazy !!!

seunfly: If they can discovered so much fraud like this in the middle of administration, how many will they discover at the end of the administration?

The fraud did not begin yesterday or during Jonathan's administration, it started since oil was discovered in Nigeria.

Though, dere ve been corruption since in this country . Bt under d jonathan regime, corruption ve been @ d peak level without any culprit arrested or sentenced even d ones on sentenced were released for instance , dipryre alamysiere. Perhap, d president is even d master of corruption cos since d inception of his regime, it ve always been one day, one scandal. We can only change d situations by voting for the right person unbiased of religion, ethnics nd party. Vote for d right person... Wat we need is chance for a brighter nigeria future.

The Federal Government under GEJ is a criminal enterprise.

I see we've come full circle again.
Does any one recall a discussion kicked off by @nku5 back in Jan 2012, on this thread: https://www.nairaland.com/844042/momoh-madueke-nezor-sa-tridax

nku5: The Cabal Starts To Sing?

I got this BB message minutes ago-

Very Important-Please broadcast - Petroleum Marketers are fighting back by exposing some of the subsidy deals.

They say Nigeria must know that Haruna Momoh the MD of PPMC and Deziani Allison Madueke Minister for Petroleum has been demanding and pocketing N50 per litre of Kero and petrol produced by local Refineries since Jan 2011 till date. The reason they gave to marketers is that it was marketers contribution to Jonathan's election, but it has continued even after the elections.

That the govt should probe Nezor SA and Tridax SA  two companies owned by the Peroleum Minister run by her junior brother. This two companies in the last 16 month of her tenure has from nowhere become one of the few companies lifting crude oil and one of the largest beneficiary of the subsidy.

The marketers want Nigeria to probe the new list of briefcase companies now lifting crude oil because they paid minimum of $1 million to Momoh and Deziani.

I think we hv started seeing the real faces of the cabals!

NIGERIA!
1970's- Money is not our problem. How to SPEND it is our problem.
2010's- Money is not our problem. How to LOOT it is our problem.

farem: NIGERIA!
1970's- Money is not our problem. How to SPEND it is our problem.
2010's- Money is not our problem. How to LOOT it is our problem.

Touche...

Nigeria has never had it this bad, Gej's administration is the most corrupt in the history of Nigeria

This government is corrupt, and can't stand the myriads of questions the electorate would ask it come 2015 it will seek a re-election. I heard it is already meeting with clerics of both christian and islam faiths to help it campaign because Nigerians are believed to be easily cowered by religion.

citizenisb: Are we sure we do not need a REVOLUTION in this country, the stealing has gone INSANE.

Disintegration is what we need and not revolution

Orlando Owoh: This government is corrupt, and can't stand the myriads of questions the electorate would ask it come 2015 it will seek a re-election. I heard it is already meeting with clerics of both christian and islam faiths to help it campaign because Nigerians are believed to be easily cowered by religion.

''christian & muslim cleric's'' 2 help him ? Why our leaders are desperate 2 bring religion in2 everything ? 9ja is heading 2 doom

Nigeria it self is the biggest fraud ever in the history of mankind

take dat: Some of these companies with powerful backers in and outside of Government are the major perpetrators of Crude oil theft. According to the Chief of Naval Staff, the bulk of Nigeria's crude oil is stolen from crude export terminals.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/chief-of-naval-staff-major-oil-theft-occurs-at-terminals/156441/

Only the IOC's and companies with oil lifting license(s) are the ones who load crude oil from the terminals. Apart from ripping Nigeria off through heinous sweet heart bonanza oil deals in cahoot with Government officials who fatten their pocket books, they are also engaged in crude oil theft. The Government is very much aware of these happenings, but because they have vested interest in it, all we hear are Presidential sermons on how he is tackling oil theft and corruption, yet no 'Big Fish' has been caught. As far as Jonathan is concerned, its 'A LOOTA CONTINUA'(the looting continue).

Abeg, SHUT ya mouth tha @takedat. You increasingly getting closer to dem hypocrite these days. GEJ is 'allowing looting to continue in d oil sector', ko?? The same GEJ that put his political line on d line in other to completely remove d Fraud that is called 'Oil Subsidy' (and is still paying d political cost till today), and was vehemently opposed by many Nigerians (including me, I must add). You do know that this Report is bw d period 2009-2011, and virtuali all of d Nigerian partners are bn prosecuted in courts today. GEJ allows 'looting to continue' yet NEITI was this year recognised by EITI as d Most effective Oil/Mining Transperancy Agency in the whole world; this is a Federal agency under GEJ, the same Agency that were almost kicked out by EITI in 2010 for not undaking any Comprehensive Oil Sector Audit since it was formed in 2005 (all d 3 Comprehensive Audits they hv done both in d Oil and Solid Mineral Sectors hv been unda GEJ who gave them a complete freehand to do them, a fact EITI acknowledged this yr)..... By d way, where are those shameless NOISEMAKERS who were shouting on d top of their voices about d PIB Bill b4 GEJ sent it to d NA, touting it as d most Comprehensive 'cure' to d humegeous corruption in d Oil industry (and it is d 'cure')?? They hv all bn completely Silent for more than a year now cos GEJ had sent d Bill since July last year and d NA hv bn siting on it FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER, abi? because GEJ cannot be criticized in this instance again, Silence; none of those NOISEMAKERS care whether that extremely critical bill is passed or not!! 'Anti-Corruption' campaigns only matters these days to the extent that sm People can smhow get at ONE MAN. We will all see where that wud leave us...

....thank you Jonathan.. for this fresh air....

..it took a foreign NGO to uncover such rot...while your many machinations against corruption were spinning around like chicken with "collie"...

...thank God the same report vindicated Ribadu by acknowledging his efforts...thereby helping us save a little face

..you oga jona, the shoeless one, are either giftedly corrupt...or astonishingly incompetent...

..take your pick..



................................................ .......................................... Front page material IMHO

this can not be attributed to Jonathans government because this started since oil was discovered in Nigeria various governments participated in the looting. i think that it is because of the proposed NC that all these information are being brought to the fore btw Nigeria is the greatest fraud on African soil