By Bolaji Ajala
The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has denied the fraudulent selling of the Federal Government’s five percent shares in Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited, EPCL, Port Harcourt, to Indorama for N4.375 billion as claimed by the Chairman of the Senate ad hoc Committee, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

The BPE in a statement, clarified that the it could not embark on the sale of any public enterprise without the approval of the National Council on Privatization, NCP, and the EPCL transaction could not be different.

The statement read in part: “EPCL was about to embark on a multi-billion dollar expansion programme, and that the inherent threat of Federal Government’s five per cent shareholding being diluted as a result of recapitalization which necessitated the decision by the Technical Committee of the NCP to negotiate the price for the sale of the shares, on the understanding that the approval of the NCP would be obtained before closure of the transaction.”

It further said that the consideration for the proposed sale of the five per cent shareholding in the company was to initiate a process in which the Nigerian public can benefit from the phenomenal successes recorded by EPCL, as Indorama, the core investor.

Part of the agreement was that it would make available between 20 and 25% of EPCL shares via Initial Public Offering, IPO, within a period of five years from the effective date on which the Share Purchase Agreement for the five per cent would be signed.

Accordingly, a request for approval of the transaction was forwarded to the NCP, and to the Chairman of the NCP, giving full details of the processes adopted, and informing both the NCP and its Chairman, respectively that the sum of N4.375 billion had been placed in an escrow account, pending the final approval of the NCP.

“These actions were taken in the firm’s belief that they were in the best interest of the nation, in line with the Federal Government’s policy on privatization, and for the benefit of the Nigerian people.