Minister of Finance ,Dr Ngozi Okonjo –Iweala has denied appointing Price WaterHouse Coopers (PWC) to carry out the forensic audit of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
A statement by Mr Paul C Nwabuikwu said “Dr Okonjo-Iweala did not appoint the PWC to carry out the audit.”
The statement was released in response to a reported suit filed against her before a Lagos High Court by SIAO Partners, a group of three accounting firms
Nwabuikwu said “The Minister is yet to be formally notified of the suit but from information gleaned from media reports, the group is alleging that she appointed the global audit firm Price WaterHouse Coopers (PWC) to conduct the recently concluded forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) against the provisions of the Local Content Act.
“The CME is astonished by the news of the said court action which is spurious in the extreme. It is shocking that professionals of the calibre of the SIAO Partners can embark on this kind of legal action without taking the trouble to do the minimum amount of homework to confirm basic facts.
He advised “The SIAO Partners should immediately drop this totally baseless suit or she will see them in court.
Surprisingly after reports which quoted his earlier statement directly, Nwabuikwu issued what he called “clarification”.
In the clarification he said, “Okonjo-Iweala has not disowned PriceWaterHouse Coopers, the international audit firm which carried out the recent audit of the alleged unaccounted for $20 billion.
“This is because the forensic audit was actually proposed by Dr Okonjo-Iweala as the best way to get to the truth following the disagreement (and widely conflicting figures) between former CBN Governor (and current Emir of Kano) Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the NNPC over Sanusi’s allegation of unaccounted for funds.
“Her proposal was accepted by President Goodluck Jonathan as well as the Senate, and the President subsequently directed the Auditor General of the Federation to lead the work. The Auditor-General later appointed PwC to carry out the audit.
“Dr Okonjo-Iweala therefore respects the process which produced the audit.
“But requesting the audit is of course not the same thing as hiring the auditor. This was why we made it clear in our last press release that the suit filed against Dr Okonjo-Iweala before a Lagos High Court by SIAO Partners alleging that she appointed PwC to carry out the audit is frivolous and uninformed.
