Below is a press statement....
Oil
and Gas company, Springfield Ashburton Limited has again debunked
reports circulating in the media, particularly controversial website,
Sahara Reporters, linking its MD/CEO, Mr. Kevin Okyere, to corruption in
Nigeria’s oil sector under former Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Deziani
Alison-Madueke.
In a rejoinder to online publication Sahara Reporters’ story of 14th October
2015 titled “Ghanaian Oil Tycoon Kevin Okyere Bought A £4.5m London Mansion
In 2014 Tied To Diezani’s Looting”, which the
website has deliberately not published for obvious cynical reasons after a poor
attempt to link Mr. Okyere’s purchase of a London home to proceeds from graft
amongst several other claims, Springfield described the entire publication as “full
of lies, half-truths and innuendos and calculated attempt to injure the
reputation of our company and it’s Managing Director.”
Springfield further warned that
“Any attempt to tarnish our image with baseless allegations shall be met with
appropriate legal action. Our company will not hesitate to use every legal
means to protect our interests as we owe that much to our business partners,
stakeholders and the general public.”
The company
further clarifies its position saying:
“The house
in question was paid for in March 2014 and the sale closed in May 2014.
The first contract awarded to our company was in May 2014, however, we received
our first crude oil lifting in June 2014, which we got paid for in July
2014. We fail to see how a property paid for in March 2014 provides a
connection to an oil contract awarded in May 2014.
All allegations
against Melanie are baseless. Melanie Spencer has not been implicated in
any investigation and has absolutely nothing to do with the Minister or any of
her dealings. It is only logical that Melanie’s address is at Kevin Okyere’s
property given the fact that she is his wife. As stated above, there is no
connection between Kevin Okyere’s property and Mrs. Alison Madueke.
It is
spurious to imagine that a bank of Standard Bank’s quality will lend itself to
a “highly suspicious” transaction. The loan in question was obtained and
processed through all appropriate official channels and is backed with proper
documentation.
The Federal
Minister did have a Senior Special Assistant named Kevin, a Kevin Allanso NOT
Kevin Okyere. MrOkyere is a Ghanaian and it is preposterous to imagine that he
will be appointed Personal Assistant to the Federal Minister of Petroleum in
Nigeria. Kevin Okyere is not and has never been Mrs. Madueke’s personal
assistant and has never been employed by the NNPC or any other Government institution
in the world.
Furthermore,
Mr. Okyere is the founder, Chairman and CEO of his self-owned group of
companies. As a business man running his own business it is unfathomable how he
would successfully run a multinational business while doubling as a Personal
Assistant at the same time.
It is a
shame that in their bid to sensationalize and smear the good name of a
hardworking entrepreneur, Sahara Reporters threw all the professional ethics of
journalism to the wind and failed to investigate and check all their facts
before publishing.
The claim of
the award of a $40billion annual contract to Springfield is totally ridiculous.
The company has never received that amount. One only has to think of what the
total value of annual crude oil lifting contracts in Nigeria is (about
$60billion) to realize that this claim is utterly baseless.
The
only contracts which the Company has partaken in from the NNPC is NNPC’s crude
oil lifting contract which was awarded to it alongside 26 other companies and a
condensate contract for EGP3 out of which only 4 cargos have been lifted to
date and an LPG contract, from which no cargos were ever lifted.There was absolutely nothing
untoward about the award of these contract as due process was followed to the
letter. Springfield is not and has never been involved in crude oil swaps or
subsidy contracts.
There was
absolutely nothing untoward in the award of the oil lifting contracts to our
company. Springfield has been in business since 2008 in Ghana giving it
considerable expertise in the oil business. It is usual to take into account
the expertise of the Group Company when awarding a contract to the National
subsidiary. Thus, Springfield’s track record in Ghana was taken into account
prior to the award of the contract and it wasn’t considered a “mere two years
after incorporation” as Sahara mockingly couched it.
It took
Springfield two whole years to get awarded the oil lifting contract after a
failed attempt. The final award was on merit due to a strategic
partnership with BP. Springfield’s track record speaks for itself as it
has not been involved in any oil swap contract or participated in the oil
subsidy, areas which have caused a lot of controversy in the industry. All
Springfield’s contracts with NNPC have been discharged diligently and we are
not indebted to any of our trading partners or banks.
Dissolution
of the company in the UK was a routine business decision with no connections to
the elections. The company decided that it did not make business sense to keep
on incurring the expensive costs of running an office in London when the
Company had little or no operations in London. Maria Luisa left the
company to move on to other projects because we decided to dissolve the
company.
Melanie Spencer has never been
arrested by the UK National Crime Agency and we have not been notified by the
UK National Crime Agency of any investigation of Melanie Spencer.
It is a totally ridiculous
suggestion that Mr. Okyere is the “pocket” of anyone. Mr. Okyere has never been
“the pocket” for anyone including Mrs. Alison-Madueke or Nana AkufoAddo.
It is indeed
right that Mr. Kevin Okyere has sued these publications (The New Statesman: $7.5million, AlhajAlhaj, Herald & The Republic:
$3.7 million each)for printing outright lies and fabrications.
Springfield Ashburton Limited and Mr. Kevin Okyere are law abiding citizens and
will explore all legal avenues to right a wrong that has been done to them.
On 16th
October 2015, the New Statesman published a full retraction of its earlier
misleading reports and acknowledged that “it had no evidence that Springfield’s
dealings with NNPC were not legitimately secured.”
As has been
stated above, our Company started business in 2008, long before Mrs.
Alison-Madueke became minister. The claims in the media that our company’s
success is tied to a supposed “connection” to Mrs. Alison-Madueke are
preposterous. We have worked painstakingly over the years to build our
reputation as a credible and worthy player in the oil and gas industry, and
indeed we have come very far as an indigenous African company. Any attempt to
tarnish our image with baseless allegations shall be met with appropriate legal
action. Our company will not hesitate to use every legal means to protect our
interests as we owe that much to our business partners, stakeholders and the
general public.”
