By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

ABUJA—Russian Aluminum, Rusal, said Wednesday, that it had not in any way plundered the assets of the troubled Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, Alscon,  in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State.

The firm insisted that the reported looting of the assets of the firm, which the Nigerian Supreme Court has asked to quit, was misleading and untrue.

The company’s Director of Public Affairs, Tatyana Smirnova, told Vanguard that the audit report on the financial operations of Rusal for the year 2011 by an independent audit firm, KPMG, which was being reported upon by the media, was not unknown to the company.

Rusal said: “The published information is misleading and incorrect. Currently, the Board of Directors of ALSCON does not have in its possession the independent audit report for the aforementioned period which has been duly approved by the audit firm and certified with the relevant signatures and stamps.

“In compliance with the procedure of conducting an independent audit, which is aimed at confirming the reliability of financial information prepared by ALSCON for use by its investors, creditors and shareholders, ALSCON provided KPMG with the necessary administrative reports for 2011 in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Currently, KPMG has not provided ALSCON with the documented results of its independent audit of the activities of the Company.

Tatyana stated that the company was still an operating enterprise despite being shut down temporarily on the orders of its board of directors.

“The Company is maintaining its operations in a power generation mode and is in the process of implementing plans for structural, material and production improvements while fully fulfilling its social obligations.

She emphasized the fact that the suspension of production was temporary and was necessitated by the need to avoid the complete shutdown of the plant, assuring that Aluminum production would resume as soon as the legal uncertainty over the ownership was sorted out and steady power supply achieved.

The company also denied claims that it was broke as a result of unpaid loans from its parents company; Dayson Holdings.