Subsidy Scam: EFCC declares German wanted

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has declared a German citizen, Amzat Mohmood, wanted for alleged involvement in petroleum subsidy scam.

The EFCC said Mohmood was an international petroleum trader, whose company, Nimex Petroleum Limited, was involved in a case for which ASB Investment, Aro Bamidele and Abiodun Bankole were already standing trial before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.

Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said, “Nimex Petroleum Limited is the company that sold and shipped 38,010,413 litres of petrol to ASB Investment, Bamidele and Bankole, for which they received N1.3bn as subsidy for products that were never supplied.”

Uwujaren also said two Indian nationals, Sailesh Singh and Chadrashekar Sharma, had been successfully prosecuted by the commission and convicted by the court.

He said the duo were among oil thieves arrested in Brass, Bayelsa State in 2012 by the Joint Task Force with 157,822 litres of stolen crude oil.

“The convicts were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each,” Uwujaren added.

He said the commission from January 2013 till date investigated 21 cases of crude oil theft, arrested 81 suspects, while 11 tanker vessels and 16 tanker trucks were recovered.

Uwujaren also said the commission was not recruiting workers, urging the public not to be hoodwinked by fraudsters who were deceiving people in the name of securing jobs for them in the EFCC.

He said, “Recruitment by the EFCC is conducted in the most transparent manner. Usually, such exercise is heralded by advertisement in major national newspapers and there are no fees or charges for prospective employees.”

On the Commission cooperation with sister agencies, Uwujaren said it had been very robust both locally and internationally. He said such cooperation had led to the arrest of many fraudsters.

He added that the commission had played host to investigators and prosecutors from Zambia, United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Niger, World Bank and Africa Development Bank, and signed international memorandum of understanding or joint working agreements with international partners such as British Serious Fraud Office, Economic Crimes Network (New Zealand) the Global Fund, United States Trade Commission, World Bank and a host of others.