The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered 2.3 million litres of diesel worth about N4.485 billion from a Lagos-based oil company.
The diesel was allegedly taken from Prudent Energy and Services Limited and converted for personal use by Mamemo Ibru of Ibafon Oil and Gas.
The EFCC said the recovery followed a petition submitted by Prudent Energy and Services Limited to its Lagos office over missing petroleum products kept at Ibafon Oil and Gas for storage.
According to the anti-graft agency, Prudent Energy had given petroleum products to Ibafon Oil and Gas to store at its depot. However, the company later noticed that a large quantity of the products was missing.
The petitioner said regular withdrawals were made from the products stored at the depot. At one point, the records showed that 2,574,031 litres of diesel should have remained in the storage facility.
However, when the EFCC carried out a physical measurement and checked the records, only 206,761 litres were found in the tanks.
This left a shortage of 2,367,270 litres of diesel.
The EFCC said its investigation showed that Ibafon Oil and Gas buys and sells diesel and also stores petroleum products belonging to other companies at the same depot.
The agency further alleged that Ibru used his position as the owner of the company to move out petroleum products beyond the quantity that belonged to Ibafon Oil and Gas.
The EFCC said the excess products were allegedly converted for his own use, leading to the loss suffered by Prudent Energy.
Following the intervention of the anti-graft agency, the suspect handed over the recovered petroleum products to Prudent Energy and Services Limited.
The EFCC said the recovery was part of its efforts to investigate financial crimes and protect businesses from the unlawful conversion of their assets.
The development comes as the commission continues its investigations into cases involving alleged financial crimes and misuse of funds and property across the country.
SOURCE: Olamilekan@11/PM News