By Gbenga Agbana Thursday, 22 Jul 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange are currently investigating an alleged manipulation of the accounts of African Petroleum Plc in the 2009 financial year.
The commission, which spoke through its Assistant Director and Head of Media, Mr. Lanre Oloyi, on Wednesday, said the SEC had received a letter from the company’s Finance Director, Mr. Clement Aviomoh, alleging that the accounts of the company, which reflected a profit of N957m was not real.
Oloyi said, ”The commission has received the petition and we are currently looking into it.” Also speaking on the issue, the Assistant General Manager of the NSE, Mr. Sola Oni, stated that the NSE was investigating the allegation. He added that its findings would be made public.
He said, ”On AP, we are aware of the allegations. We are investigating the matter. As soon as we conclude our investigations, we shall make our position known to the public. Aviomoh had at a press briefing on Wednesday said that he had petitioned the SEC and the NSE over the alleged manipulation of the company’s accounts.
According to him, In September 2009, the finance director prepared a management account, where the company made a loss of N9.7bn. The loss was not acceptable to the chairman, who brought in others to produce an alternative account that showed a profit of N957m. They also suggested that we warehouse N15bn as un-reconciled inventories and to seek board approval to amortise it over five years.
Source:Punch