Missing $20bn: Independent Auditors Will Submit Their Findings Next Week

The independent experts appointed by the Senate committee on finance to conduct a forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will submit their report next week.NNPC headquartersThis information was disclosed on Thursday. by the chairman of the committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna).On Wednesday President Goodluck Jonathanauthorizeda forensic audit of the NNPC accounts over allegations of under-remitted $20bn.But Senate president David Mark approved the hiring of the forensic experts to carry out a forensic audit on only $2.1bn which was the third party financing as the Senate lacked financial resources to hire experts to audit the entire account of the NNPC."We expect their [auditors'] report by the end of next week. And their independent report is what will make us form an opinion on the expenses and losses," Makarfi said.He noted that although the Ministry of Finance has the resources to hire forensic experts, is not legally and constitutionally allowed to do so.The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterdayexpressed supportof the NNPC audit.The Senate committee has also given thePetroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) two weeks to submit details on certification of subsidy for kerosene and fuel from July 2013 to December 2013.Makarfi also said that the Auditor-General of the Federation had written formally to the Senate committee confirming he was conducting "forensic checks" on the NNPC accounts.The NNPC Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu,kept insistingthat no money was missing.Iy will be recalled, that last month the former governor of the Central Bank Sanusi Lamido Sanusipresented evidence that he said showed that NNPC failed to remit $20bn of oil revenueto theFederation Account.NNPC: "Third parties confirm NNPC's remittances"Also on Thursday, NNPC said in a press statement that at the sitting of the committee on Thursday all the three institutions summoned by the committeeconfirmed NNPC's claim of remittances to the Federation Account and third parties.According to the statement, issued by its Acting Manager of Public Affairs Division, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, represented by Salawu Zubairu, said that from their records, NNPC had remitted all due amounts January 2012 and July 2013.Next, Alfred Ohiani from the Department of Petroleum Resources, said that all royalties on crude oil liftings in the period under review was paid into DPR account with the CBN.The third parties, the JV partners Total E&P and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited represented by Chidi Momah and Olusegun Banwo respectively also confirmed receiving the amounts stated by NNPC during the period under review.In his final presentation, Yakubu thankedthe Senate for the opportunity to explain to Nigerians how the various streams of revenue flow from the oil and gas industry to the federation account and the other equity stakeholders involved in the petroleum business.The statement quotes Yakubu saying:"For us this is a wonderful opportunity to give a detailed account of what we do because like we always say, there is a huge misunderstanding about the industry. Today we gave a clear and detailed breakdownof what we remitted to the Federation Account and to the Third parties which have been confirmed by all of thempresent here today."The statement also adds that the Senate Committee said it would review all the presentations.