The Fight Between Finance minister and Gwarzo Over Oando

Perspective!!

Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun unearthed a previous petition against Mounir Gwarzo and suspended him as Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] because he demanded to be served in writing with her order to stop SEC’s forensic audit of Oando Plc, Daily Trust learnt from informed sources and official documents in Abuja yesterday.  Adeosun, who said she was giving the order in her capacity as the Board of SEC, implied that it was President Muhammadu Buhari who wanted the Oando inquiry stopped because she said the president did not give her orders in writing. When Gwarzo insisted on a written order, the Finance Minister said he too had a petition written against him and that she would suspend him in order to allow for a full investigation.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a November 27, 2017 letter that SEC’s Head of Legal Department wrote to Oando’s Group Chief Executive Officer Mr. Adewale Tinubu, cousin of APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. SEC informed Tinubu that it had appointed five firms including Akintola Williams Deloitte, United Securities, Nasiru Muhammad and Co, SPA Ajibade and TJADAF Consulting and Associates to undertake a forensic audit into the oil firm’s affairs. The audit, among others, is to determine Oando’s financial health, determine if there was insider trading in the company’s stock in 2013-15, determining the accuracy of its shareholding records and review its assets disposals and the purchasing parties, among others.

According to the documents that Daily Trust obtained, trouble for Oando began when SEC received petitions from Ansbury Investments and Dahiru Barau Mangal alleging going concern of Oando, insider dealings, acquisitions of subsidiaries without SEC approval, misstatements in the company’s audited financial statements, declaration of dividends from unrealised profits, violation of SEC rules on remittance of dividends to registrars, related party transactions and discrepancies in Oando’s shareholding structure, among others. After its initial findings, SEC ordered a forensic audit and ordered the Nigeria Stock Exchange to suspend trading in Oando’s shares. The oil firm went to court on October 24 to try to stop both the forensic audit and suspension of trading in its shares but a Lagos Federal High Court judge threw out the case on November 23.

A day later, on November 24, according to the documents, top Finance Ministry officials led by the permanent secretary met with the SEC DG and approved that the forensic audit of Oando should go ahead. Three days later however, on November 27, Minister of Finance Adeosun summoned Gwarzo to her office and ordered him to discontinue the forensic audit of Oando. Instead, she said SEC should impose a penalty on Oando. Mounir Gwarzo demanded that the Board order be given to him in writing. He also wrote a memo to the minister the next day, November 28 highlighting the dangers of discontinuing the probe of Oando, which he said would render SEC impotent in dealing with all transgressions in the securities sector. It was at this point that Adeosun resurrected a petition and suspended Gwarzo from office pending a probe of the allegations against him.
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