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The Richest Address In Port Harcourt. by OlaBlaize(m): 6:26pm On Aug 30, 2015 |
Ihave lived in Port Harcourt for many years; but, until
recently, I did not know the richest address in this capital
city of our oil-rich Rivers State. I only got the information by
happenstance - while reading a petition, and the rejoinder
thereto, that were published in the newspapers. The richest
address in Port Harcourt, in case you do not know, is
situated somewhere on Trans Amadi Road, where three
companies, co-located at the same address either received
(according to the petitioners) or (according to the rebuttal)
bought the hard currency equivalent of not less than N17
billion, all within a matter of days in December, 2014.
Usually, in claims and counterclaims, different sets of facts
are marshalled. Now, according to the published petition,
which was addressed to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), the Rivers State Government sold its
electric power plants, and the monies, or at least a chunk of
the proceeds, were then allegedly paid to the three
companies located at the same address on Trans Amadi
Road. How much each company got and on what date
(between December 1, 2014 and December 8, 2014) are part
of the details of the petition.
However, in the rejoinder which was also widely published
with appendices, the former Secretary to the State
Government (SSG) and former Commissioner for Finance,
both of whom served under the administration of Rotimi
Amaechi as governor, refuted the allegation that the monies
were simply paid to the three companies for doing nothing.
Instead, they argue, part of the proceeds of the sale of power
plants was in US dollars, which the companies bought and
paid the state government the naira equivalent.
My first observation is as follows: whereas, in the petition,
the three companies are named and their address given as
the same location on Trans Amadi Road, the rejoinder lists
the companies but without their addresses. I must admit
straightaway that my interest in the matter was stirred by
the curious coincidence of the three companies having the
same address and dealing in such huge sums within a short
space of time, hence my coinage of the title for this article.
Yet, I note that the rejoinder did not refute the co-location of
the three companies at the same address.
Even to the untrained eye, the fact that such monies as
aforementioned went to the same address, and within a
week or so, should trigger an alarm. Forget for now that, in
law, companies are regarded as separate and distinct
entities, from their human owners. Companies have a life of
their own. Thus, a hundred or more companies can operate
from the same address; they can share the same office. But
the law also recognises that companies are potent vehicles
for perpetrating fraud, which is why the history of company
law is replete with pieces of legislation aimed at blunting
the capacity of companies being used as avenues of fraud.
The rebuttal to the petition provides a background to the
sale of the state’s power projects; it also indicates that
proceeds came in various tranches between 2012 and 2014,
and that there were US Dollar components of the proceeds
of sale. Subsequently, according to the former SSG and
former Commissioner for Finance, the US Dollar “proceeds
were sold to willing buyers”. But why does it appear to be
the case that those three companies located at the same
address were the “only willing buyers” of the forex
proceeds? Was the sale advertised, or was it insider
dealing? The rejoinder is silent on that.
The rate at which the three companies bought the forex was
stated at N175 to US$1. Yet, by December 2014, with falling
crude oil prices, and the Central Bank of Nigeria battling to
shore up the country’s external reserves, the Naira was
already taking a beating in the exchange market. The Rivers
State Government had Dollars, so why the rush to sell off?
Did the three companies, in contravention of extant
regulations, buy the forex for speculative purposes? That
question may be unnecessary after all, because the
rejoinder asserts that, “Once the funds (that is, Naira
equivalent of the forex sales) were received into Rivers
State Government revenue account…they were used
alongside others from other revenue sources to finance
various government projects and activities.”
Certainly, those “government projects and activities” did
not include the remittance of funds for the payment of
scholarships for Rivers students studying abroad, who had
regularly besieged Nigerian embassies in anxious
expectation of funds. The “government projects and
activities” did not also include the payment of garbage
collection companies which downed tools and turned Port
Harcourt into a sprawling garbage dumpsite, stinking and
repulsive for several months before the exit of the Amaechi
administration. Workers and pensioners were owed, and
Rivers State did not pay, until after May 29, examination
fees for its students who were to write the NECO for 2015.
And, of course, the “government projects and activities” did
not include the Port Harcourt mono-rail, which is the
abandoned poster project of an administration that lost its
way.
But, let me return to the richest address in Port Harcourt. It
is interesting that, as disclosed in the rejoinder, the
proceeds from the sale of power assets were identified as
one of the revenue sources under the state’s 2014
Appropriation Law. Such proceeds were projected at N33
billion. But why did the state government under Amaechi
have to wait until December 1st to begin off-loading the US
Dollars it received for the sale of the power plants? And the
off-loading continued right up to December 22nd . Does
Rivers State accounting system forbid carrying over credit
balances to the following year? Would the state not have
had more Naira in its kitty, if the Dollars were sold early this
year?
Still, if within three weeks, according to the facts supplied
by the erstwhile SSG and former Commissioner for Finance,
in contradistinction to one week as alleged in the original
petition, three companies shelled out at least N17.1 billion
to buy forex, it buttresses my assertion that where the three
companies are located is the richest address in Port
Harcourt. Just by their names, the companies are not any of
the oil majors, nor do their names ring familiar as among
the well-known service provider companies for
multinational oil firms. It may help then to, as lawyers say,
lift the veil of the three companies, so the real identities of
the wealthy folks behind the companies are known.
There is perhaps no better forum to lift the veil of the
companies than at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set
up by the Rivers State Government, and which has been
given the all-clear by a High Court, to proceed with its
assignment. In lifting the veil, some useful questions to ask
include: when were the companies incorporated? What has
been their respective turnover in the last three years, or
less, if they were set up only recently? What were their
annual returns to the Corporate Affairs Commission? How
much have they paid in company tax to the authorities over
the last three years or so? Answers to these questions may
help lay to rest any further suspicion of graft or abuse of
office.
––Nimi George writes from Port Harcourt |
Re: The Richest Address In Port Harcourt. by frankay430(m): 6:28pm On Aug 30, 2015 |
what abt d poorest |
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