L
LequteMan
Guest
FCT- Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman of The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), speaking on Thursday in Abuja says the commission is waiting for the forensic audit of the NNPC accounts, before it will commence investigation into the alleged unremitted funds.
Lamorde said investigations into the financial position of the NNPC were technical and required experts to conduct a comprehensive audit to unveil its true financial position.
He said that the outcome of the forensic audit of NNPC would provide the EFCC with the materials to conduct criminal investigation into the accounts of the corporation.
"When this controversy started we had about three figures. Now we have settled more or less on 20 billion dollars.
"The minister of finance said that they want to commission an audit firm to do a forensic auditing of the finances of the NNPC.
"You need a professional firm to handle this. This is not a common investigation. These are very technical things.
"Let the audit be carried out. Let's know exactly what we are talking about, understand what the figures are and criminal investigation can follow.
"You can't start an investigation on nothing. You can't put a super structure without a base. So, we need that base to put our own investigation on it,’’ he said.
Earlier, Lamorde said the commission had proposed a budget of N21.5 billion for 2014, but the Budget Office proposal slashed it down to N10.2 billion.
He said the EFCC needed the sum of N9 billion to enable it complete construction of its permanent headquarters in Abuja.
Lamorde said investigations into the financial position of the NNPC were technical and required experts to conduct a comprehensive audit to unveil its true financial position.
He said that the outcome of the forensic audit of NNPC would provide the EFCC with the materials to conduct criminal investigation into the accounts of the corporation.
"When this controversy started we had about three figures. Now we have settled more or less on 20 billion dollars.
"The minister of finance said that they want to commission an audit firm to do a forensic auditing of the finances of the NNPC.
"You need a professional firm to handle this. This is not a common investigation. These are very technical things.
"Let the audit be carried out. Let's know exactly what we are talking about, understand what the figures are and criminal investigation can follow.
"You can't start an investigation on nothing. You can't put a super structure without a base. So, we need that base to put our own investigation on it,’’ he said.
Earlier, Lamorde said the commission had proposed a budget of N21.5 billion for 2014, but the Budget Office proposal slashed it down to N10.2 billion.
He said the EFCC needed the sum of N9 billion to enable it complete construction of its permanent headquarters in Abuja.
