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President Goodluck Jonathan (R)
receiving The Forensic Audited Report of Finances in NNPC from the Country
Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd (PwC), Mr Uyi Akpata, in Abuja
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The much anticipated report of the
forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, operations
on the missing US$20 billion oil money may not amount to much after all, with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the audit firm that conducted the probe, saying it
cannot vouch for the integrity of its findings.
In
a startling introductory letter addressed to Nigeria’s Auditor General, the
audit firm said findings in its 199-page report (DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT) were limited to available
information and did not constitute a review in accordance with generally
accepted standards.
“The
procedures we performed did not constitute an examination or a review in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards or attestation
standards. Accordingly,
we provide no opinion, attestation or other form of assurance with respect to
our work or the information upon which our work was based,” the firm said.
GRAPHITTI NEWS based on The Punch/PREMIUM TIMES filings reports:
The
audit report and all accompanying deliverables, the company pointed out, were “solely
for the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, for their internal
use and benefit and not intended to, nor may they be relied upon, by any other
third party.
The
firm concluded that the NNPC should refund to the government a minimum of US$1.48
billion of missing oil funds, a figure many Nigerians believe is smaller than
the likely actual figure.
The
report however gave no strong and independent opinion of its findings despite
saying the investigation was carried out using forensic techniques.
The
firm instead listed a series of potential factors that could render its
findings implausible, saying it had no access to the full account of some
relevant agencies like NPDC, the upstream petroleum industry subsidiary of the
NNPC.
The
firm said where it lacked data, it turned to details of earlier investigations
carried out by the Nigerian Senate, which all but cleared the NNPC, and the
petroleum ministry of any wrongdoing.
“We
did not obtain any information directly from NPDC, but in accordance with NPDC
former Managing Director’s (Mr Briggs Victor) submission to the Senate
Committee hearing on the subject matter, for the period, NPDC generated US$5.11billion
(net of royalties and petroleum profits tax paid),” the firm said.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
also said without an independent legal opinion, it relied on the legal advice
of the Nigerian government’s Attorney General (AG) on the subject of the
transfers of various NNPC (55%) portion of Oil leases (OMLs) involved in the
Shell (SPDC) Divestments which impact crude oil flows in the period.
“The
AG’s opinion indicated that these transfers were within the authority of the
Minister to make. Thus, these assets were validly transferred to NPDC. The same
AG’s Legal Opinion also indicated that NPDC was to make payments for Net Revenue
(dividend) to NNPC, which should ultimately be remitted to the Federation
Account,” Pwc said.
Still,
the PwC said that although it reviewed documents submitted by the key parties
involved, its work was conducted independently, with its findings based on the
review of documentation, analytical reviews of data, and interviews conducted.
The
firm said with the exception of the Deputy Group Managing Director/ Group
Executive Director Finance and Accounts of NNPC, the Auditor-General for the
Federation, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, it did not discuss the
findings of the report with anyone.
It is not clear for how
much the Nigerian government hired the audit firm that has now delivered a
report which it said should not be relied upon by Nigerians and the global
community.
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