The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said that its officials did not divert N2.5 billion from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to buy property in Aso Savings and Loans.
BPE’s Head of Public Communications, Amina Othman, who made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said BPE wished to state that the reports were not correct.
She said: “On February 25, 2014, the BPE got the approval of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to establish a banking relationship with ASL.
“Subsequently, the bureau made a placement in the sum of N2.5 billion in the account to facilitate access to cheap finance for its staff housing scheme but the staff were not able to access the money.
“Following the Federal Government’s directive on September 14, 2015 that all funds held with commercial banks be transferred to the Bureau’s Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, it was discovered that ASL could not meet its deposit repayment obligations.”
Othman said as a result, ASL proposed a repayment plan of property swap valued at N1.52 billion on October 18, 2016.
According to her, under the said arrangement, ownership of some completed property that were ready for sale would be ceded to the bureau in partial satisfaction of the stranded deposits and cash repayment of N1.25 billion.
She said this entailed a bullet transfer of N70 million per month until the amount was extinguished.
Othman said in spite of the arrangement, ASL defaulted in meeting its obligations under the agreement, adding that the bureau had made several demands to ASL, which had remained elusive till date.
She said: “It should be noted that some of ASL property that are habitable have been sold and the money received and paid into government treasury.
From the foregoing, there is nowhere that BPE officials diverted any fund or proceeds from the PHCN.
The alleged diversion is, therefore, a figment of the imagination of the writers of the reports.”
Othman, therefore, appealed to the general public to discountenance the reports in their entirety.
The Senate Committee on Public Account had on November 2, accused officials of the BPE of diversion of N2.5 billion from proceeds of the sale of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria for the purchase of properties in Aso Savings and Loans.
The Senate query was hinged on the report of the Auditor General of Federation, Anthony Ayine, before he proceeded on retirement.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Mathew Urhogbide, who was visibly angry over the diversion of N2.5 billion to Aso Savings and Loans, asked the representative of the Director General of the BPE to show any document that authorised it to divert the N2.5 billion to Aso savings and Loans.
But the BPE representative said the Bureau did not obtain any approval from the Debt Management Office when the Chairman asked him about the person that authorised the diversion of N2.5 billion to Aso Savings and Loans.
According to the BPE: “We did not have approval from DMO to pay N2.5 billion from proceed of PHCN to Aso Savings and Loans.”
Urhogbide further accused the representative of the BPE of acting in collision with Aso Savings and Loans.
The Chairman Committee further demanded for the list of staff who benefited from the properties acquired from Aso Savings and Loans.
