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Ifeanyi Uba Allegedly Duped Coscharis Boss of N20 billion in Fuel Scam

By on October 12, 2012

 

The troubles of the embattled Capital Oil executive, Ifeanyi Uba continue to escalate. Uba who was yesterday remanded in police custody for 14 days by a Lagos Magistrate court for allegedly swindling the Federal Government of N43.3 billion in unwarranted subsidy payments has some new allegations leveled against him.

Coscharis CEO, Cosmas MAduka has petitioned the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunshakin, over an alleged scam of  US$133.08 million.

Mr. Maduka claims he entered into a joint-venture agreement with Capital Oil in July 2011 to import petroleum products into the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Coscharis was to serve as financier and provide funds whilst Capital Oil would import several hundred thousand tonnes of petrol using its experience, contacts and regulatory approvals.

Maduka said his firm provided US$289.5 million, of which $180 million was loans obtained from commercial banks in the country and was utilized to open 10 letters of credit.

Maduka claims Uba and Capital Oil only delivered six out of he ten cargoes of petrol for which the 10 LC’s were opened. HE says that the outstanding four cargoes of petrol containing 133,000 tonnes of petrol (PMS) were diverted by Uba and his suppliers to the detriment of the agreement with Coscharis.

The petition states, ““We have strong reasons to believe that Capital Oil in collusion with the shippers must have diverted the products given the dates on the Bills of Lading and the facts that the original Bills of Lading are still with the bank, the lawful owners (consignee) of the products. Under the Bills of Lading, the products were expected to be delivered within three weeks from the date on the Bill of Lading (i.e. on or before January 10, 2012).”

Coscharis said the diversion had caused it to be indebted to the bank to the tune of over N20 billion and Uba had not been forthcoming on the whereabouts of the product.

“This has led to our inability to meet our repayment obligations to the bank. The outstanding balance on the account presently stands at N20,949,147,956.16 while interests continue to accrue,” Coscharis explained.