The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) said yesterday that the Commission would immediately move into the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) to dig for details surrounding the recent sale of federal government’s five percent equity shares in Eleme Petro-Chemical Company Limited (EPCL) in Port–Harcourt.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP on the issue yesterday, a top official of the anti–graft agency said the matter would be investigated and necessary actions taken.
“Let me assure you that we’d leave no stone unturned on this issue. We are alarmed by the development but are very capable of getting to the root of it. Nigerians should be rest assured that the case would be followed with due intelligence to ascertain facts and we’d take it from there,” the source said.
The Senate adhoc committee investigating the government’s privatisation and commercialization program since 1999 revealed on Tuesday that the BPE had illegally sold the government’s five percent of equity shares in Eleme Petro Chemical Company.
This was done in contravention of the 1999 Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act of 1999 which stipulates that the federal government must retain five percent of shares in a privatised company.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise BFE under the leadership of Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa, reports said, approached an Indian Conglomerate; Indorama to buy up government’s remaining shares. The BTE sealed the illegal deal at a cost of ? 4.375 billion.
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