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Oil firm, Oando Plc, allegedly declared dividends from unrealised profits and released false financial statements to the public before it was suspended by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, a letter sent to the oil firm by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, shows.
Oando, which was suspended by the NSE on October 19, has been enmeshed in a protracted crisis for a while.
The NSE suspension followed an October 18 directive by the SEC, mandating the it to sanction the oil firm.
Similarly, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, following an advice from the Nigerian bourse, also suspended the embattled firm on October 19.
However, in a letter sent by SEC to the Group Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Wale Tinubu, and obtained by TheNewsGuru.com, the commission said it found that the oil firm’s 2014 Rights Issue Circular ”contained misleading information.”
The letter, dated October 17, and signed by Braimoh Anastasia, Head of Legal department at SEC, said the oil company’s disposal of Oando Exploration Production Limited, OEPL, to Green Park Management Limited was done in contravention of the Investment and Securities Act, ISA, 2007 because the regulatory body was not informed.
In 2013, following the structuring of the OEPL transaction in a way SEC said contravened the ISA 2007, Oando recorded a profit of about N6 billion that erased a loss of N4.68 billion which made the company declare a profit of N1.4 billion for the same financial year.
The letter revealed that since the transaction was done in contravention of ISA 2007, Oando Plc restated its 2013 and 2014 audited accounts which contained “…material false and misleading information contrary to section 60(2) of the ISA 2007.”
The letter also revealed that the 2014 Rights Issue Circular of the company contained information on the profit reported by the company in 2013 arising from the sale of the OEPL, which the commission considered “false and misleading.”
In the notice publicly released by SEC on October 18, the regulatory commission said it received petitions from a shareholder, Dahiru Mangal, and Ansbury Incorporated, with allegations of gross misconduct leveled against Oando’s management.
The commission said it regarded Ansbury as a whistleblower.
Similarly, the commission noted that the corporate governance return submitted by the company in December 2016 showed that the renumeration of the GCEO, Mr. Tinubu, and the deputy GCEO were approved by the board while the GCEO approved the renumeration of other executive directors, a clear violation of part B 14.3 of the SEC Corporate Governance Code.
Meanwhile, the ongoing crisis in Oando has attracted the company’s boss, Wale Tinubu heavy backlash on the social Media .