Formal Nigerian President’s Cousin Not Part of N27bn PHCN Scam —Engineering firm
Kakatar Construction and Engineering Limited and its MD, the cousin of former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Azibaola Robert are not part of any scam involving alleged diversion of monies meant to settle insurance premium of sacked defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, workers, the company’s spokesman Mr. Austin Ekeinde, has said.
Austin Ekheinde made the clarification following allegations that Kakatar CE Limited was part of an alleged diversion of insurance premium payments of PHCN workers.
A sworn affidavit for forfeiture order filed at the High Court by an officer of the EFCC, alleged that his company, Kakatar CE, was involved in illegal payments of premium of PHCN workers which the company disagree.
Source report has it that at Abuja, Ekeinde said: “An affidavit deposed to by an officer of the EFCC for a forfeiture order clearly misrepresented the facts. The truth is that Kakatar CE took a N2.5 billion facility from Bestworth Insurance Brokers Limited to fund a Federal Government contract we won to provide infrastructure for Kyami District, Abuja.
“On the basis of documentary evidence the EFCC requested that the facility be repaid to it to enable it recoup the payment to Bestworth. It was on that basis that we commenced repayment through the EFCC to Besthworth. This has nothing clearly to do with any scam or fraud in that matter.”
On December 12, 2014, Kakatar CE got an award letter for a contract to provide engineering infrastructure for Kyami District which we were required to move to site to commence work immediately.
“ As we were unable to secure a favourable credit facility from any commercial bank, Bestworth Insurance offered to provide us a project execution facility with mutually agreed terms upon which we moved to site immediately. Unfortunately the Federal Government has been unable to pay its statutory mobilization sum of over N7.5b due to Kakatar CE.
“However, sometime last year, EFCC invited us that they were investigating Bestworth for alleged diversion of insurance premiums of PHCN workers. That was how our N2.5 billion facility became an issue. There is no law which says a corporate organisation cannot take a facility from another corporate organisation.
“On the basis of documentary evidence the EFCC requested that the facility be repaid to it to enable it recoup the payment to Bestworth. It was on that basis that we commenced repayment through the EFCC to Besthworth. This has nothing clearly to do with any scam or fraud in that matter.
