The senator-elect for Lagos West Senatorial District and Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Solomon Adeola has called on the incoming federal government and relevant financial and auditing regulatory bodies to appropriately sanction auditing firm, PriceWater House Coopers (PWC) for misleading and deceiving Nigerians on the issue of the missing $20billion NNPC fund as alleged by the former CBN governor and present Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Speaking to journalists against the backdrop of revelations from the ‘Forensic’ Audit Report of the Missing NNPC $20billion and the disclosure by PWC that it did not really audit NNPC accounts contrary to impression created, Hon. Adeola said his committee addressed the media on the need to make the report public as there appears to be many shortcomings in the procedure for engaging PWC and its subsequent work has been vindicated on its alarm that an unprofessional work might have been done to deceive Nigerians on the weighty allegation of missing billions of dollars.

“From the disclosures by PWC on its work, there is no audit report on the missing money much less a ‘forensic’ audit report. From what was done by PWC, only a review and compilation of some figures was done resulting in different figures from $1.4billion to $4.3billion being bandied for refund by NNPC to the coffers of the Federation Accounts” he stated that, PWC not only misled and possibly defrauded Nigerians by purporting to have undertaken a forensic audit report and collecting fees for same but may have abetted a criminal cover up of fraud in its role in the investigation.

The senator-elect called on the incoming Federal Government to investigate the PWC for it role in the shady saga that has now unfolded and report them to such bodies as International Federation of Accounts (IFAC) and ICAN to face disciplinary actions, adding that, the accounting firm should be suspended and prevented from further participation in similar exercise undertaken by the Federal Government.

“For such a highly rated auditing firm to release such a report is dangerous and unethical. Indeed all other reports by PWC for the Federal Government should be investigated as they were also involved in the Fuel Subsidy Investigation and they should be made to refund money for work not done or not done appropriately,” Hon. Adeola stated.

Adeola commended the incoming administration for its promise to revisit the issue of missing NNPC fund as a step in the right direction, noting that, the deceptive cover up role of PWC in this investigation must not be overlooked as it strikes at the heart of our constitutional provisions and the development of Nigeria.

“We are talking about $20billion and not millions. This is almost the budget of Nigeria for about two years” Hon Adeola stated.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/05/03/probe-pwc-for-deceiving-nigerians-hon-adeola-tells-buhari/

kolomax:
the Guys Above me need serious prayers

seunmsg:
Instead of Blaming PWC, he should blame the Auditor General who came up with the terms of engagement and NNPC and NPDC who both refused to cooperate with the Auditor. Beside, the assignment was a special investigation of the alleged missing $20 billion and not a statutory audit. people should stop confusing the two together.

doctokwus:

Yeah.
But the point is PWC was contracted to carry out an audit as attested to by d ngozi.When it was not getting necessary documents, why didnt it cry out or withdraw?
What we should ask ourselves with all sincerity is this:had PWC been contracted to carry out a similar assignment in America or an European country and 2 very important corporations refused opening its books,would it not have come out to distance itself from continuing d audit,in order to save its name?
But PWC has peculiar standards for operating here,they get contracted for an audit,but ended up doing a review while collecting auditing fees.

Classicalman:
He is a complete illiterate honourable. Did he actually go through the 200 page report to see how PWC arrived at tyue $1.48bn? I dont think he did. He just wants to run his motor-mouth like typical APC member.

doctokwus:

Yeah.
But the point is that PWC was contracted to carry out an audit as attested to by ngozi okonjo iweala.When it was not getting necessary documents, why didnt it cry out or withdraw?
What we should ask ourselves with all sincerity is this:had PWC been contracted to carry out a similar assignment in America or an European country and 2 very important corporations refused opening its books,would it not have come out to distance itself from continuing d audit,in order to save its name?
But PWC has peculiar standards for operating here,they get contracted for an audit,but ended up doing a review while collecting auditing fees.

doctokwus:

Yeah.
But the point is that PWC was contracted to carry out an audit as attested to by ngozi okonjo iweala.When it was not getting necessary documents, why didnt it cry out or withdraw?
What we should ask ourselves with all sincerity is this:had PWC been contracted to carry out a similar assignment in America or an European country and 2 very important corporations refused opening its books,would it not have come out to distance itself from continuing d audit,in order to save its name?
But PWC has peculiar standards for operating here,they get contracted for an audit,but ended up doing a review while collecting auditing fees.

eph12:

Who contracted PWC? The Nigerian government right? Do you think they didn't make their displeasure known to the government in the course of the audit? Blame their employers abeg and leave PWC out of this.

seunmsg:

Okay.Hope they did report the u corporative stance of d NPDC though.
PWC was contracted by the Auditor General and not the minister of finance. If you look at the terms of engagement as stated in their report, you will see that they were contracted solely to investigate and report on the alleged unremitted $20 billion by NNPC. They did that assignment very well and the disclaimer in their report is to the extent of third parties that may want to rely on the report. The report is solely for the Auditor General and nobody else. That, is the standard practice when conducting an investigative audit of this kind of nature. Bring in KPMG or Delloitte, they will issue the same disclaimer.
As regards NPDC that refused to open their books, PWC can't pull out of the assignment because of them. NNPC is the major organisation under investigation here and not NPDC which is just a subsidiary. The best they can do is to report on their refusal to cooperate and they did that clearly in their report.
You must also note that it is only in statutory audit that the auditor is expected to give his opinion on the accounts. In an investigative audit, the auditor only reports on his findings based on the terms of engagement.

doctokwus:

I agree with most of your points,but I feel that PWC should have reported back to the auditor general that an important corporation as the NPDC wasn't being corporative,to weep them into line.Maybe they did anyway.