The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Tuesday, said only the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could answer questions on the controversial secret foreign account for crude sales.
The NNPC, speaking through its Executive Director, Finance, Bernard Okechukwu Oti, when being cross-examined by the Senate joint committee investigating the fuel subsidy management, said the account was only known and controlled by the CBN.
Oti told the committee that the agency only kept a domiciliary account with the CBN and, therefore, would have no reason to run a foreign account.
The committee, however, ordered the immediate closure of the account, while its members insisted that key players in the said illegal account should not go unpunished.
It asked the NNPC and the CBN to prepare a position paper on how to resolve the controversy.
The deputy governor of the CBN, Mr Tunde Lemo, had earlier told the committee how the NNPC ran a secret account with JP Morgan, in which proceeds from crude sales were lodged.
Oti, however, refused to admit that the account was being controlled by the NNPC, insisting that the apex bank was the one managing the account on behalf of the NNPC.
He said the fund from the JP Morgan account could only be moved by instruction from the NNPC, adding that the agency was not direct signatory to the acclaimed secret account.
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