Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprise, Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, on Friday, told the House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets that Delta Steel Company, worth over 700 million dollars, was sold for a paltry 30 million dollars.
Gbeleyi told the Committee that following the privatization policy of the Federal Government, 80% of shareholdings of Delta Steel Company in Aladja, Delta state, was sold to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd (GINL) in 2005 while the Federal Government, through the BPE, retained 20% shareholding.
According to him, residential buildings and plots of land belonging to the Delta Steel Company were used to settle the workers and pensioners of the company.
Gbeleyi disclosed that after privatization, the company used the assets of DSC as collateral to obtain a loan from Ecobank, adding that due to the non-performance of the loan, AMCON acquired the assets in 2015 and sold them to Premium Steel and Mines Ltd.
He alleged that AMCON did not seek clarification from BPE regarding the contractual agreement before acquiring the assets and selling them to another company.
Gbeleyi, however, said the BPE was only aware of the loan Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd took from Ecobank but unaware of 3 other banks AMCON listed as the creditors.
The petitioners, including the Association of Concerned Residents of Camp 2, 4, and 5 of Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Warri, before the involvement of AMCON and Premium Steel and Mines in DSC assets, had been staying in the estate and plots of land which were used to settle their base on the contractual agreement.
The petitioners claimed that they had been under constant intimidation and harassment by police and army personnel since 2015, claiming to be acting on the instructions from AMCON and Premium Steel and Mines that they should vacate the estates.
Speaking on behalf of the petitioners, Dr. David Emomotimi and Richardson Osifor said the assets AMCON acquired were assets used as collateral by Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd to obtain a loan from Ecobank, which did not in any way include the residential buildings.
Osifor said from the contract agreement and information at the Corporate Affairs Commission, the loan Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd obtained from Ecobank was N250 million but AMCOM jacked it up to N7 billion.
In their submission, the representatives of AMCON, Chukwuemeka Umunakwu (AMCON legal unit) said AMCON acquired the assets of DSC used as collateral to obtain loans from four banks to prevent them from collapsing.
He said AMCON acquired the assets at N22 billion but sold them to Premium Steel and Mines at N32 billion.
Responding to an inquiry by the committee whether the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has the receipt of payments by both BPE and AMCON in respect of sales of Delta Steel Company’s assets, the representative of AGF, Kabiru Ademola (Director, Finance) acknowledged receipt of N3 billion in favor of BPE in respect of sales of 80% of DSC assets to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd.
He said the AGF was yet to get any response from the Central Bank, regarding the claim of payment of N32 billion by AMCON in respect of DSC assets to Premium Steel and Mines Ltd. Though AMCON claimed the money was paid to the FG account, (TSA), the agency was unable to provide proof of payment to the committee.
