Nigeria to Charge More People, Companies in Fuel Subsidy Fraud

Nigerian prosecutors will file criminal proceedings against more individuals and companies accused of receiving illegal fuel-subsidy payments of 1.1 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) in Lagos, the anti-graft agency said.

Charges will be filed against a group of six individuals and four companies tomorrow after 12 people and seven companies were charged in July, the Abuja-based Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said today in an e-mailed statement.

They are among several to be prosecuted over “dubious subsidy claims,” said Wilson Uwujaren, a spokesman for the agency, which is also known as the EFCC. More than 140 individuals and companies are being investigated over the illegal payments.

A parliamentary inquiry published in April recommended that gasoline importers including state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. refund 1.1 trillion naira in alleged illegal fuel-subsidy payments made to them. The payments process was fraught with “endemic corruption” and “entrenched inefficiency,” according to the report.

To contact the reporters on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net