he House of Representatives yesterday commenced an investigative hearing on the alleged unremitted N2 billion and $3.8 million proceeds from the sale of assets of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
The chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Dennis Amadi, assured Nigerians of the committee’s resolve to work assiduously in the bid to unravel any unremitted funds from sales of power holding assets.
He noted that the committee was also mandated to unravel the alleged suppression of interest element due to the federal government from proceeds of sale of those assets.
Amadi said, “This includes the generation companies, the distribution companies, the transmission companies as well as the banks involved.
“These funds are federal government funds and from the whistle blower which is the source of the motion it is being alleged that the affected banks have some interest elements to remit to the federation account which has not been done.
“So, it is an issue of investigation, we have not proven them wrong yet until we get to the root of the matter. This investigation is in furtherance of the motion moved by the House of Representatives on March 6, 2018 and subsequently we will begin to engage stakeholders, the purported banks that are involved, owners of these banks as at today, Bureau of Public Procurement and stakeholders in the power sector.
“In the cause of this investigation, this committee should be able to draw a proper recommendation to ensure that interest accruing on those monies are being calculated and remitted to the federation account,’’ Amadi said.
Amadi further listed some of the stakeholders expected to appear before the committee to include management team of all deposit money banks, new investors of distribution companies (DISCOs), Generating Companies (GENCOS), officials of Federal Ministry of Power, Lands and Housing, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), National Council on Privatisation (NCP), among others.
