Company Affiliated With VP Sambo Accused Of Siphoning N670m For Personal Projects BY SAHARA REPORTERS, OCT 02, 2014 On September 25, 2014, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) issued a query into the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), a company which is owned by the business team of Hamisu Yusuf Mairago, Jamilu Gwamna, and Garba Haruna Argungu, all personally linked to Vice President Namadi Sambo, who also serves as Chairman of the National Council of Privatization. According to NERC, it is alleged that in February 2014 the company had illegally siphoned N670m from Kano Distribution Company into Northwest Power, one of their sister companies. “These monies were allegedly used by Northwest Power to make the down payment of 25% for Kaduna Disco to the Bureau for Public Enterprises in contravention of all known prudentian guidelines,” a source told SaharaReporters. “Laid down rules and regulations of such a sensitive transaction had earlier consumed a Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, for a much lesser infringement.” Further, according to NERC, Kano Electricity Distribution Company had also taken the sum of $2.740m, equivalent to N428.026m to pay Kayseri Ve Civari Elektrik T.A.S. (KCETAS), a Turkish electricity generation and distribution company, on top of a hefty fee of $150,000, paid in cash for “technical support”. Other egregious fees include an expenditure of N10,000,000 for a two-day board meeting, from which N8m was given to the Chairman, 6 directors, and company secretary, as a “sitting allowance”, while 2m was shared for accommodation. The query went on to say These transactions raise prudential issues that are of interest to the commission as the regulator of the NESI. The commission demanded for: 1. Written explanation of the purpose of the payment to Northwest Power (not being a market Participant in the NESI), and the condition for the payment. 2. The resolution of the board of directors of KEDCO authorizing such payment. 3. Minutes of the meeting where such resolution was taken and the directors present. 4. Minutes of meeting where allowances for directors were fixed and the directors present at such meeting. The commission demanded a response to these grievous financial misadventures within 7 days. It also said there are other findings which are not contained in this query which will later be communicated to the management of KEDCO. The request was signed by Dr. Steven Andzenge, MON, Commissioner Legal, Licensing and Enforcement. If these allegations are found to be true, it means technically, KEDCO, led by Yusuf Hamisu, Jamilu Gwamna and Garba Haruna, have diverted monies belonging to other shareholders in their consortium, money belonging to federal, state, and local governments into their private company, Northwest Power, to pay for another asset belonging to these three tiers of government, a very grievous financial misconduct of monumental proportion which will bring the Government of President Goodluck Jonathan to ridicule both locally and internationally. In 2012, VP Sambo dissociated himself from KEDCO, and a statement from the managing director, Jamil Gwamna, alleged that the operation was run by “highly responsible” entrepreneurs.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 07:14:19 +0000
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