OIL DEAL TURN SOUR: JB RISK ARREST

Information sourced by FaceofMalawi indicates that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has launched an investigation on former President Dr. Joyce over the oil deal her administration reached with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

ACB want to establish the where about of the proceeds of the deal following a complaint raised by Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) Executive Director John Kapito in 2013.

In 2013, the People’s Party administration is alleged to have pocketed money amounting to U$831,370 as proceeds from the crude oil but it is not known how the money was used.

The money was part of royalties amounting to U$1, 256, 081.70 given to the Presidential Initiative on Poverty Alleviation and Hunger Reduction under the OPC to buy legumes for export.

In the complaint, Kapito suspected that the proceeds were misappropriated.

ACB Senior Public Relations Officer Egritta Ndala confirmed of the investigations in an interview with one of the local daily papers in the country Daily Times.

Ndala, however said the investigations will take longer to be concluded as deal involved two jurisdictions.

The Malawi deal was reportedly initiated by the former president Bingu wa Mutharika.

Banda completed the deal after Mutharika died in April 2012.

The contract gave Malawi the approval to buy and sell 30,000 barrels of crude oil from the NNPC per day as specified in the lifting schedule for each month, with an aggregate approval of over half a million barrels a month for the country.

After Malawi failed to deliver a conditional upfront fee of $2.5 million, Anyiam- Osigwe offered to facilitate a rescue from a different company, Petroleos De Geneve SA Ltd (PDG), the agent firm he enlisted to act for Malawi.

Meanwhile Kapito has expressed dissatisfaction over the slowness of the case, saying the stand taken by ACB is not helping matters.