The Africa Centre for Integrity and Development (ACID) has described the recent allegations against the Bulk Oil and Storage Distribution Limited (BOST) over the sale of some crude oil as an act of mischief.
The anti-corruption think-tank in a statement Monday said the decision by BOST to sell the oil to BB Energy was taken in the best interest of the country despite a claim to the contrary.
COPEC Executive Director, Duncan Amoah had accused BOST Managing Director, Alfred Obeng of causing financial loss to the state when he authorized the sale of some barrels of crude oil to an unlicensed dealer.
He quoted 1.8 million barrels of crude oil as the quantity that was sold to BB Energy, a figure that had been questioned by BOST management.
But having interrogated COPEC’s claims months after they were made, ACID said it has sufficient grounds to believe they were done purely for mischief purposes.
“Truly, our conclusion in this matter is that the COPEC and BOST brouhaha, is pure mischief from the former, as the saying goes, to give ‘a dog a bad name and hang it’, which should be disregarded by all,” the statement read.
ACID also said it discovered that the quantity of crude oil sold was 942,000 barrels, the same figure BOST quoted in the heat of the allegation.
“[We] would have highly applauded or commended COPEC, if during our investigations we had found their allegations to be palpably correct and credible with little margin of errors,” the statement continued.
Considering BOST is not only a bulk oil storage company but also an Oil Trading Company (OTC), the Centre said it was fair for the company to use the Freight on Board (FOB) in its transaction with BB Energy.
ACID has urged civil society organizations (CSOs) to be meticulous and diligent in their line of work to ensure that they are not dragged into “needless legal mine-fields.”
