Total received N2.7bn subsidy overpayment in 2011 –Reps

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Subsidy Regime on Wednesday produced records indicating that Total Nigeria Plc received excess subsidy claims of N2.7bn in 2011.

The committee produced the records after the Managing Director of Total, Mr. Guy Maurice, had consistently argued that the firm had never been overpaid by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

“It is not possible that Total would ever have been overpaid. The money would have been returned if it ever happened,” he insisted.

Maurice, who appeared before the committee in Abuja, said that his company supplied 211 million litres of petrol to the Nigerian market last year.

He said the value of subsidy claimed was N16.1bn.

However, records supplied to the panel by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation showed that Total actually received N18.8bn for the 211 million litres of petrol supplied.

Maurice still denied the overpayment after the documents were tendered.

He later admitted not being “sure” over the matter and said he would refer the figure to the company’s Finance department and report back to the committee.

A member of the committee and Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. John Enoh, who pointed out the overpayment, stated that unless Total produced superior evidence to counter the AGF’s, the panel would have to recommend a refund of the N2.7bn to the Federal Government.

He said, “N18.8bn was recorded as subsidy paid to Total in 2011, which is higher by N2.7bn than the N16.1bn the MD admitted to have claimed.

“This has been established because the records before the committee speak for themselves.”

The panel also observed an “anomaly” in the sharp difference in the subsidy payments made to Total between 2010 and 2011, though it supplied more petrol in 2010.

Source