Bribe Allegation at the Mint
By Mikail Mumuni
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Rowland Ataguba, a London-based businessman files a petition at the ICPC against key officials of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company accusing them of demanding bribe from him
A London-based Nigerian businessman has dragged Ehi Okoyomon, managing director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, NSPM, and two other management staff of the company before the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission, ICPC.
The businessman,Rowland Ataguba, managing director of Corbe Nigeria Limited in a petition dated March 20, is asking the anti-graft body to look into reasons why the NSPM officials failed to award a contract to Gietz AG, a Swiss-based company. The contract, he said, was for the hologram machines for stamping a foil on Nigeria's N1,000 notes. Ataguba who claimed he is the representative of the Swiss company in Nigeria said an official of NSPM told him on phone that Gietz won the bid to supply the machines. He, however, said NSPM was yet to award contract to his principals because the demands of some officials for bribe were not met. He stated that the contract sum was $1.7million and alleged the NSPM officials had demanded for 25 percent of this as bribe directly and through proxies. Apart from Okoyomon, other top officials the businessman wants ICPC to investigate include Ibrahim Babayo, general manager, Finance, and Olusegun Oshatola, general manager, Lagos factory.
A similar petition was sent to Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in December 2006 by Rayfield Associates, a firm of legal practitioners on behalf of Corben. Ataguba, on May 23, 2007, also petitioned the CBN governor. Soludo has not responded to either of the two. When Newswatch sought for explanations on this last week, an official of CBN, who declined to be quoted, said all enquiries relating to NSPM should be directed to the company's management.
Okoyomon was not available for comments when the Newswatch visited. But both Babayo and Oshatola said Ataguba was peddling half truths. They both said the NSPM, as a matter of policy, does not deal with middlemen in the purchase of security document printing machines. They said that Ataguba only acted on insider information to present himself as representing Gietz in Nigeria. Babayo said he never had any interaction with Ataguba, arguing that the petitions filed against him had put his integrity into question and that he was already briefing his lawyers on the next line of action.
Oshatola, on the other hand, said he logged onto the internet when NSPM needed a foil application machine. He said that he shared his findings with some of his subordinates, including an assistant general manager whom he suspects leaked the information to Ataguba. He said: "About four weeks after I started discussing the equipment with Abuja, I got a note from somebody called Rowland Ataguba who said he is an agent to Gietz. When that information came to me, I was taken aback. It started ringing in my head that something had gone wrong somewhere because when I went to the internet, there was nobody who was the company's representative. That means there is an insider who leaked our information. I then called my team and said 'gentlemen, I'm very unhappy with what is happening."
Oshatola said he had made a report to Okoyomon about the suspected mole and that the case was being investigated. Contrary to the claims by Ataguba that only Gietz submitted quotations for the supply of foil stamping machine, Oshatola said two other companies did. "They need to understand what contract is. A contract is an agreement between two parties, signed and agreed. Yes, it is true they came to make presentation to us about what their machine is, but they were not the only one that made such presentation. We had one from KBA and we also looked at other equipment by De La Rue. We haven't really given any contract out on that, we are still at the prospecting stage," he said.
But Babayo said Gietz's machine was already ruled out by NSPM on account of expert advice from some of its foreign partners. He said the one recommended was 'a bobst' foil applicator. The general manager, Finance, explained that the advantage of that was the bobst machine is currently being used to print the N1,000 notes. He said that the impression being created that the Gietz machine would be used to print the currency was wrong as it is only a foil applicator. "That is the foil that you see on currencies and cheque books. It is a miniscule aspect of printing, not for the entire printing of the money as the petitioner claimed," he said.
Babayo said that those who demand kickbacks do so after contracts must have been consummated and not before. In his opinion, the petition was a pure blackmail. "Are we that stupid, are we that inexperienced not to know how to structure a deal," he asked. And he added: "People should credit us with some level of intelligence. Would we not have waited until the contract is concluded before we go behind to strike a deal? That is why I look at the petition as nothing but sheer blackmail."
But Ataguba claimed the demand for bribe was made from him during telephone conversations with Oshatola and a Lagos lawyer who allegedly claimed to be representing the interests of some senior officials of NSPM.
He told Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, chairman of ICPC, that he had transcripts of the telephone conversations and was ready to come home from his London base to defend the petition if required to do so. Both Babayawo and Oshatola said they were also ready to defend themselves.
Folu Olamiti, the resident media consultant to ICPC, said he was yet to be briefed on the petition when Newswatch called to get his reactions.
Additional reports by Demola Abimboye and Pita Ochai.
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