Former AMCON Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru Again Indicted As $700million Delta Steel Company Was Sold For Only $30Million
SaharaReporters learnt that Ahmed Kuru, a former Managing Director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) who is facing allegations of monumental fraud of up to N20billion, was also behind the Delta Steel Company corruption-ridden sale.
The Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, has disclosed that Delta Steel Company, once valued at over $700 million, was sold for a mere $30 million under the Nigerian government’s privatisation policy.
SaharaReporters learnt that Ahmed Kuru, a former Managing Director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) who is facing allegations of monumental fraud of up to N20billion, was also behind the Delta Steel Company corruption-ridden sale.
Gbeleyi, while speaking before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets on Friday, detailed how 80% of the Delta Steel Company, located in Aladja, Delta State, was sold to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd (GINL) in 2005, with the government retaining a 20% stake.
As part of the privatisation process, residential buildings and land owned by the company were allocated to workers and pensioners as settlements.
Gbeleyi further revealed that after acquiring the company, GINL used Delta Steel Company’s assets as collateral for a loan from Ecobank.
Due to non-performance, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) took over the assets in 2015 and later sold them to Premium Steel and Mines Ltd.
He accused AMCON of failing to seek BPE’s clarification before executing the sale and stated that while BPE was aware of the Ecobank loan, it was unaware of three additional banks listed by AMCON as creditors.
A petition from the Association of Concerned Residents of Camp 2, 4, and 5 of Delta Steel Company alleged that before AMCON and Premium Steel and Mines became involved, they had been living in the company’s estate and plots of land as part of a contractual agreement.
The petitioners, represented by Dr. David Emomotimi and Richardson Osifor, claimed they had faced intimidation and harassment from police and military personnel since 2015, allegedly acting on orders from AMCON and Premium Steel and Mines to vacate the estates.
Osifor further stated that, according to records from the Corporate Affairs Commission, the loan GINL obtained from Ecobank was valued at N250 million, yet AMCON allegedly inflated the debt to N7 billion.
However, AMCON’s legal representative, Chukwuemeka Umunakwu, defended the corporation’s actions, stating that AMCON acquired the assets from DSC to prevent the company’s collapse.
He added that AMCON purchased the assets for N22billion and later sold them to Premium Steel and Mines for N32 billion.
During the hearing, the Director of Finance at the Accountant General of the Federation’s office, Kabiru Ademola, confirmed receiving N3 billion from the sale of 80% of DSC assets to GINL.
However, he noted that the office had yet to receive any confirmation from the Central Bank regarding AMCON’s claim of a N32 billion payment to the Federal Government through the Treasury Single Account (TSA), as AMCON had failed to provide proof of payment to the committee.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director and CEO of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Dr. Armstrong Takang, expressed his agency’s decision to distance itself from the Delta Steel Company case due to the numerous controversies surrounding it.
Takang lamented the collapse of the steel company, questioning the nation’s ability to maintain infrastructure built by past generations.
“If our forefathers, who were less exposed and less educated, could build such infrastructure, and our contemporary leaders, who are more exposed and educated, find it difficult to maintain, I wonder what the future of the country holds,” he remarked.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Public Assets, Ademorin Kuye (APC, Lagos), stated that the committee, which is responsible for overseeing the management and disposal of all federal government assets, had initiated an investigation into the controversial sale of Delta Steel Company.
The committee has directed AMCON and Premium Steel and Mines to halt any further harassment of estate residents until the probe is concluded.
SaharaReporters had reported that Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited, a co-defendant in the trial of Ahmed Kuru, AMCON former Managing Director, was on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced for fraud by Justice R.A. Oshodi of Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
Kuru, the first defendant is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited on amended six-count charge, bordering on conspiracy, stealing, dishonesty and criminal conversion to the tune of N20billion.
At Tuesday’s proceeding, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN informed the court that the reason for the amendment of the charge had to do with Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited, represented by Umaru Hamidu Modibbo.
Count one reads: “Ahmed Kuru, Umaru Hamidu Modibbo, Ifie Sekibo (at large) and Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited sometime in 2016 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit felony, to with: stealing by dishonestly converting the total sum of Twenty Billion Naira (N20,000,000,000) property of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria through Heritage Bank Limited to the use of Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited for the acquisition of Keystone Bank Limited.”
Count three reads: “Ahmed Kuru, Umaru Hamidu Modibbo, Ifie Sekibo (at large) and Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited on the 17th of November, 2016 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court transferred the aggregate sum of Ten Billion Naira (N10,000,000,000) derived directly from an illegal act to wit: stealing with the aim of concealing the illegal origin of the said sum and to evade the legal consequences of your action.”
Kuru, pleaded “not guilty” when the charges were read to him, while Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited pleaded “guilty.”
