The Public Accounts Commission of the Senate acquitted the Directorate of Public Companies, BPE, of the complaints of financial irregularity filed against it by the Comptroller General of the Federation.
This is contained in a statement issued by Ibeh Chidi, Head of Public Communications, BPE on Friday in Abuja.
According to Mr. Chide, the committee cleared the board of the charges when its CEO, Alex Okoh, appeared before him.
He said the committee, chaired by Senator Mathew Urhohide, described the allegations as spurious, adding that the OAuGF failed to reconcile its records before publicly accusing BPE of a misdemeanor financial crime.
He recalled that the OAuGF had accused the bureau of some financial violations, especially the non-remittance of income from port concessions amounting to 679.4 million dollars.
“On port concession payments, Mr. Okoh informed the committee that the office was only part of the concession, as all revenue generated from the exercise was paid directly to the Landlord-Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
“He said the office was never part of the revenue collection during and after the award, adding that the OAuGF arrived at the figures simply by looking at the contract documents and assuming the revenue was paid to the office.”
He said Okoh was sorry that the accusations against the office had tarnished his reputation and integrity and demanded a retraction and apology from the OAuGF.
“After hearing the presentation from the DG, BPE and the inadequate response from the OAuGF, the committee cleared the office of all charges.”
However, the committee advised the OAuGF to always meet with the relevant agencies for post-audit reconciliation before going public.
He also reprimanded the OAuGF for not diligently fulfilling its duties.
The committee began investigating the BPE for allegedly failing to remit $679.4 million earned from the concession of various ports to 23 companies by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, over a 10-year period.
The investigation was based on the OAuGF Annual Report on Non-Compliance Issues/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDA, of the Federal Government for the year ended December 31, 2019.
The office launched an investigation against BPE, where it was found that 23 companies were granted concessions in various ports under the NPA for 10 years or more.
Its annual income of 679.4 million dollars was payable to the ANP as of December 31 of each year.
However, the office said an audit showed there was no evidence that the amount was collected at the appropriate time and remitted to the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund, CRF.
