$20m Eastern ports scam: FG silent on indicted 4 ex-NPA top shots, Cyprian firm

More than three months after the Swiss government alerted its Nigerian counterpart that some top officials of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, connived with a Cyprian firm to defraud the nation of over $20 million through bribe-for-contract, the Federal Government is yet to take action against the suspects.

The firm, Dredging International Services (Cyprus) Limited, which formed a company known as The Bonny Channel Management Company since 2005 with the NPA, is reported to have executed contracts worth N714 billion for the Federal Government, especially in creating and maintaining a safe navigational passage for marine users along the Eastern Ports of Bonny Island, Onne and Okrika in Rivers State.

Findings by Vanguard showed that while the Federal Government holds 60 percent shares in the firm, the Bonny Channels Management keeps 40 per cent of the equity in the company, which had been executing major jobs for the NPA for the past 12 years.

But a top Federal Government official told Vanguard, yesterday, that the government was weighing options on the alleged $20 million bribery scandal involving the company and some former NPA officials.

The top government official said it was wrong to conclude that the Buhari administration would gloss over any established corrupt practice by any official, no matter their status.

The official pointed out that since the Swiss government raised the flag on the suspected Cyprian firm and the Nigerian officials, the NPA had opted to seek legal advice on what to do with the suspects so as to deal with the matter in a way that would give the country respect before the international community.

The legal opinion being sought by the Federal Government followed a May 1, 2017, Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office’s indictment report that about $20million was paid as bribes to some NPA officials between 2007 and 2011.
Vanguard, August 24, 2017

 

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