EFCC recovers $14m from oil firm

The ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation yielded fruits with the recovery of $14m oil funds from one of the companies operating in the upstream sector of the nation’s economy.

An operative of the EFCC, who confided in our correspondent, said that the amount translated to N4,380,95,866.00bn at the rate of N303 to the dollar.

It was stated that the company was expected to pay the money which was described as royalty for crude oil to the Federal Government between 2012 and 2012.

It was stated that the money was paid by the firm to the Federal Governments’ account with JP Morgan Chase on January 29, 2016.

The source said that the company responded with the payment of the outstanding royalty with intensified pressure for the recovery of the loan by the commission.

The source was silent on the name of the company.

The commission was said to have threatened companies with outstanding taxes to pay up or risk arrest and prosecution for tax evasion.

“The EFCC has recovered over $14m (about N4,380, 295,866.00 at the rate of N303 to a dollar) for the Federal Government, being crude oil royalty which was supposed to have been paid between 2011 and 2012 by an oil and gas company operating in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil industry.

“The money was finally paid into the Federal Government’s account with JP Morgan Chase on January 29, after EFCC intervened forcefully into the matter of recovering taxes due to the Federal Government,” the source said.