NNPC,SWISS COMPANIES AND OTHERS INDICTED IN FRESH $7BILLION SUBSIDY FRAUD

A non-governmental organization based in Switzerland, the Berne Declaration has indicted two major Oil traders, of Swiss origin of being involved in subsidy fraud within Nigeria to the tune of $6.8 billion.

The Berne Declaration said in a news release detailing its report, “Every year, the Nigerian state coffers lose billions of dollars as large volumes of oil are exported for well below the market price, and the subsidy scheme for imports of refined crude oil products is systematically defrauded.

“Ongoing investigations by the Nigerian authorities show that those Swiss traders dominant in oil exports have been making good business with dubious Nigerian import firms.”

The report indicted the NNPC and other Nigerian stakeholders including politically exposed persons.

The report stated, “The all-powerful national company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, categorised as the most opaque national oil company on the planet, itself is evidence of Nigeria’s ‘resource curse’ at work.


“The extent of the problem is illustrated by the fact that the NNPC has not published detailed financial reports since 2005! But this company, with its dozen subsidiaries operating at all levels of the supply chain, from production to distribution, cannot be ignored by anyone wanting to produce, export or import crude oil or petroleum products in Nigeria. It is here that Swiss commodity traders occupy a position of choice.”

The report alleged that NNPC was involved in shady deals with two Geneva-based commodity trading firms registered in Bermuda.

It said Vitol and Trafigura had “exclusive and un-transparent partnerships” with the NNPC, which had given them over 26 per cent of the market share.

It stated, “Instances show that sales between the NNPC and its two Swiss partners were carried out at prices lower than the market rate. This type of operation appears incongruous: Why would the NNPC sell its crude oil at a discount?

“In reality, the profit generated by these entities escapes state coffers, first, because no taxation in Bermuda is paid, since the tax on profits is zero.

“Vitol and Trafigura alone took respectively 13.44 per cent and 13.49 per cent of Nigerian crude oil exports in 2011 for a cumulative value of $6.8bn.”


The report further stated that more than 56 per cent of the oil put up for sale by the NNPC in 2011 valued at $14.004bn was sold to Swiss companies or Nigerian companies with “letterbox” subsidiaries in Switzerland.