Photo caption: Immigration personnel
The Nigerian Immigration Service has flagged the passports of some officials allegedly involved in the mismanagement of funds allocated for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
Saturday PUNCH had earlier reported that the recently sacked managing directors and some top officials of the companies were arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The total amount under investigation stands at $2,956,872,622.36.
Findings had revealed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was probing the disbursement of $1,559,239,084.36 to the Port Harcourt refinery, $740,669,600 to the Kaduna refinery, and $656,963,938 to the Warri refinery.
A senior EFCC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, had disclosed that the arrests of the three former managing directors of the plants and other top officials were part of an extensive probe into the billions of dollars released for quick-fix maintenance of the state-owned refineries.
“We are investigating the funds released for the rehabilitation of all three refineries—money disbursed in recent times. All the principal officers within that time frame are being invited.
“Some have been arrested already, and we are still on the lookout for others. Nigerians are interested in seeing our refineries work. We are asking: where is the money, and what has happened to the refineries?” the official stated.
The source added that the investigation is wide-ranging and covers all key actors involved in the management of the refineries during the period under review.
Meanwhile, a source in the Nigerian Immigration Service, who also requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter, confirmed to our correspondent on Monday that 16 names had been flagged to prevent the individuals from fleeing the country.
Although the source did not disclose the names or positions of those listed, he confirmed that the directive was received recently.
“We received 16 names some days ago with instructions to flag them. This means they should not be allowed to travel out of the country,” the source said.
The EFCC and NIS spokesmen could not be reached as of the time of filling this report.
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