10 companies being prosecuted for Crude oil under declaration – NIMASA

The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA has has instituted legal action against 10 companies over alleged under declaration of Crude oil lifted from the country to various destinations.

The Director General (DG),  Bashir Jamo stated this while speaking to journalists yesterday  after his appearance before the House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged loss of $2.4 billion revenue from the sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria crude oil.

He said, although NIMASA’s mandate does not include transaction or transport of crude oil, they were directed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to coordinate a technical team to see how they can source data of the actual lifting of crude oil and the last destination point, to know whether there are discrepancies.

The DG NIMASA said the agency’s legal team identified 10 companies liable of under declaration of Nigerian crude oil after which they instituted a case in court against the companies.

He said: “The federal government has already won one of the cases, as the court had ruled that $1.7 billion dollars should be paid by an oil company Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept to the coffers of the government.

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“For those that are at the lower courts, we are still in court, while some of the cases instituted are not in Nigeria but at the destination where such criminal act occurred.”

In his remark earlier, chairman of the Ad-hoc committee, Mark Tersee Gbillah, said the house is investigating allegations that some companies that were involved in crude oil export and possible theft worth billions of dollars were engaged by NIMASA.

He ruled that the committee would summon the former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the former DG of NIMASA and the legal team of the agency.