Acting Director General Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Abdul Zubair, Coordinating Director Corporate Services SEC, Isiaku Bala Tilde and Coordinating Director Legal and Enforcement SEC, Mr. Reginald Karawusa at a briefing to update the Market on the Forensic Audit of Oando Plc in Abuja, Tuesday
By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday that following the removal of the legal impediments, the audit of Oando Plc., will proceed in a transparent and thorough manner, according to a statement from the Commission.
This is coming on the heels of a preliminary investigation conducted by the Commission on the oil marketing major, based on petitions received from shareholders of the company and a whistleblower.
According to SEC, based on some of the findings from the preliminary investigation, the Commission took steps to preserve shareholder value and protect the investing public. Consequently the SEC placed the shares of Oando on technical suspension and ordered a forensic audit of the affairs of the company.
Subsequently, two lawsuits were respectively filed by Oando, and some of its shareholders, mainly to restrain the SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from effecting a technical suspension on the shares of the company and the SEC from appointing a team of forensic auditors to conduct a forensic audit of the company.
“Oando Plc has withdrawn the pending lawsuit against the Commission by an application heard and granted by the Court of Appeal on March 05, 2018. Also the application for withdrawal by the shareholders was heard and granted by the Federal High Court on February 21, 2018, the statement affirmed.
Following the dismissal and the striking out of the suits, the SEC has duly informed the firm of Deloitte to proceed with the forensic audit.
The Commission is committed to its primary mandate of protecting investors and will take all necessary steps to fulfil that mandate and uphold the integrity of the capital market.
“We therefore wish to reassure the general public that following the removal of the legal impediments, the audit of Oando Plc., will proceed in a transparent and thorough manner,” SEC added.
Prior to this time, Oando which has been plagued by a number of losses in its operations informed shareholders and key stakeholders on March 2 that it will delay in the release of its financial results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.
“The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) has indicated interest in undertaking a more detailed review of the Company’s Audited Financial Statements (AFS) as part of their statutory review due to the issues raised by the recent investigation of the Company by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),” Oando said in a notice to the NSE.
