REVEALED: Powerful Fraudsters Forge Trade And Investment Minister's Signature And Documents To Export 24 Million Barrels Of Crude Oil Worth $1.6 Billion From Nigeria

                                            

There are revelations that the NNPC has forged a certificate of export from the Ministry of Trade to export crude oil worth $1.6 billion from Nigeria. Following this revelations, the Minister for Trade and Investment has written a letter to the President, informing him of the fraud and expressly denying that the document was released and signed by his office. In his letter to the President entitled “Investigation Into The Discovery Of A Forged Crude Oil And Gas Export Clearance Permit NO: CO/28/VOL.VIII/09, Purportedly Issued By The Federal Ministry Of Trade and Investment To NNPC For Shipment Of 24 Million Barrels Of Crude Oil And Gas In The Third Quarter ( July To September) 2012”, Aganga wrote: “May I humbly inform Mr.
 President that on Thursday, 4th October 2012, my Office was alerted of the existence of an Export Clearance Permit No. CO/28/VOL III/09 purportedly issued by my office to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the export of crude oil and gas from Nigeria for the period covering the 1st July 2012 to the 30th September 2012.

“ On a closer examination, it was discovered that one of the permits was not, in fact, issued by my office and may have been forged as it did not bear the security features that we had built into the original permit forms to prevent such forgeries. Had these security features not been in place it would have been difficult to detect the forgery. (See Annexures I [Authentic] & II [Forged]).”

The minister explained, “On October 8, 2012, the matter was officially reported to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation to determine the identity of the fraudster(s), identify the fraud indicators and how the opportunity presented itself.

“Mr. President is invited to note that the measures introduced in the past 14 months by my Ministry has strengthened the regulatory environment in the oil and gas sector and most importantly on the procedures for the issuance of the export clearance permit as the discovery of the forged export clearance permit has attested to. May I humbly aver that I will personally brief Your Excellency on events regarding the investigation as they unfold. Please, accept the assurances of my highest regards and esteem.”