Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke,
immediate past Minister for Petroleum Resources, has dismissed allegations made
by the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria to the effect that as former
minister she “sat” on a $15 billion oil deal, describing it as spurious,
unfounded and libelous.
Alison-Madueke who spoke
through her lawyers, Messers Chike Amobi and Co. said the High Commissioner, Mr
Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam’s acrimony towards her was due to the refusal of the
Federal Government of Nigeria to allow the Indian company, Oil and Gas
Commission Videsh Limited (OVL), default on its contractual obligation to
provide a $ 6 billion investment (around RS 36, 600 crore) in an 180,000
barrels (bpd) Greenfield refinery and 2,000 megawatt power plant or railway
line from East to West of Nigeria.
In a release made to
journalists in Abuja, the former minister said the publication by Mr Ghanashyam
to the effect that she delayed the approval of oil concession to twin Indian
companies, Oil and Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL) and Mittal Energy
International JV, OMEL (MITTAL) in 2006, after receiving a $25,000,000.00
signature bonus, was spurious, false and lacking in substance.
Madueke clarified that she
was not the Minister of Petroleum Resources in 2006 when the said Indian
companies entered into contractual agreement with the Federal Government and as
such wouldn’t have received any signature bonus either as citizen or minister
of the Federal Republic. She also said she had no personal reason to sit on the
contract and wonder why the High Commissioner will choose to malign and attack
her rather than commend her acting dispassionately in recommending for refund
of the said signature bonus to the Indians when the matter was brought to her attention
at the twilight of her tenure as minister.
Her words, “When the issue
of the request for refund, made by OVL which was re-presented to me in
May 2015, I immediately prepared and dispatched a letter dated 13th May, 2015,
Ref #: PI.LM/3900/S.693/Vol.1/78b to former president, Goodluck Jonathan,
recommending for the refund of the said signature bonus in compliance with the
relevant and extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which requires such
approvals to be granted by the president, and implemented by the Federal
Ministry of Finance.
Mrs Madueke further
explained that the Federal Government voided the contract with OVL because the
company wanted the Federal Government to waive the commitments they made during
the bidding process which included investing $6 billion (around RS 36,600
crore) in an 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) greenfield refinery, a 2,000
megawatt power plant or a railway line from East to West of Nigeria, all of
which were considered in granting the concession in the first place.
On the allegation that the
Indian High Commission to Nigeria, suggested that contrary to global best
practices in the industry, Mrs Alison-Madueke used intermediaries to receive
payment for crude oil transactions with India, clearly imputing a fraudulent
ill-feeling to the former minister’s operation, the former minister explained
that the contract in question was a government to government crude oil sales
transaction with established procedures which predates her tenure as minister.
She averred that the
established procedure stipulates that the buying country, in this case India,
selects and presents a local company as its agent to transact on its behalf as
it is never the responsibility of selling country to select or nominate a
company for the buying country.
She maintained that Nigeria
never dictated nor suggested any intermediary or marketing company for India
for the purposes of the said transaction. Apparently, the Indian High
Commission to Nigerian, Abuja mischievously obfuscated these facts to malign
the former petroleum minister whilst not disclosing that it was a government to
government crude sales transaction.
The former minister
disclosed that what Mr Ghanashyam neglected to inform the media and Nigerians
was that the oil concession was not granted to Oil and Gas Commission Videsh
Limited (OVL) and Mittal Energy International JV, OMEL (MITTAL), due to
inability of their subsidiary, EMO Exploration and Production, to meet cash
obligation.
Mrs Alison-Madueke blasted
the High Commissioner saying that as a diplomat, who should foster bilateral
and multilateral relations between his country and Nigeria, Mr. Ghanashyam, who
is the leader of the Indian Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, belittled “such a
lofty position by officiously spreading false and misleading information
calculated to malign Nigerian public officials, a conduct unbecoming of a
foreign diplomat.”
“We believe the conduct of
Mr Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam is aimed at damaging our client’s reputation for her
insistence on protecting the interests of the people of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, and for not acceding to inappropriate requests of his country to be
relieved of its contractual obligations to Nigeria.
“Based on the falsity and
unfounded allegations against our client, we firmly but humbly request an
unequivocal apology and a complete retraction of the libelous statements from
Mr Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam against our client.”
Mrs Alison-Madueke advised
Mr Ghanashyam to govern his future conduct accordingly to prevent the
possibility of reoccurrence of any other events that could potentially diminish
the exalted office of a diplomat he represents.
Tribune
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