Oando Plc has refuted insinuations in some quarters that it has owning interests in an alleged Maltese company.
In a regulatory filing at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), Oando stated that neither the company as an entity nor its executives have ever held ownership stakes in a Maltese oil storage & blending facility, Ras Hansir Oil Terminal Limited, which was purportedly responsible for importing adulterated petroleum products into Nigeria.
“Considering the above, we wish to refute such claims and attest that neither Oando Plc nor its Executives have ever held shares, investments, or interests in the fictitious Maltese company.Advertisements
“As part of a comprehensive investigation into the basis of the false claims, we conducted a search of the Malta Business Registry, the official repository for all registered entities past and current within the country. Our search yielded no results for a company bearing that name.
“Subsequent due diligence efforts similarly failed to uncover any record of the company’s existence. We therefore believe that the false claims are of the malicious intent of misleading the public and our stakeholders,” Oando stated.
Oando pointed out that as a publicly listed company, which shares are traded on NGX and South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) any corporate actions, such as acquisitions, are declared publicly in accordance with applicable corporate governance laws and rules.
“Furthermore, it is imperative that information released about a publicly quoted company such as Oando, is thoroughly researched and deemed accurate before it is published in the public domain,” Oando stated.
The company urged stakeholders to always take adequate steps to ensure the veracity To prevent misinformation and confusion among investors, as well as other parties.
President of Dangote Group and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote had alleged that officials of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) Limited had oil facility in Malta and frustrating his company’s local refining operations.
Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL), Mele Kyari has denied Dangote’s claim and challenged Dangote to name such officials, if they ever existed.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer