Our attention has been drawn to a misleading publication on the online platform, CKN NEWS on 25th May 2024, which contains false and misleading accounts of an incident involving some dismissed employees of Asharami Synergy Limited.
The said publication can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.cknnigeria.com/2024/05/court-jails-man-four-years-for.html?m=1
We also note that the apparently syndicated article has been rehashed in several platforms including:
Lagos Court Jails Man Four Years For Defrauding British Airways N35.6m — Emergency Digest
Court jails man for defrauding British Airways N35.6m – Dateline Nigeria
Lagos Court Jails Man For Defrauding British Airways N35.6m – The New Diplomat (newdiplomatng.com)
In the said CKN NEWS publication titled “Court Jails Man Four Years for Defrauding British Airways N35.6M”, it was stated that “The petitioner, Adekunbi [an EFCC investigative officer] also alleged that Total Nigeria Plc, British Airways’ engineers and Sahara Energy conspired to invoice aircraft Jet A1 fuel above what had been delivered into to the British Airways’ aircraft to the tune of N363, 780,248.53k, and that the fraudulent practice had been going on since 2018.”
We would like to state for the record that the above assertion is baseless and maliciously misleading as the management of Asharami Synergy Limited and Sahara Energy Resource Limited were neither involved nor complicit in any way with respect to the said incident involving bowser operators and some employees of British Airways ground operations staff at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, where the incident occurred.
We further affirm that neither Asharami Synergy Limited, Sahara Energy Resource Limited nor any affiliate of Sahara Group was the subject of any investigation or allegation of fraud or conspiracy to commit fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (‘EFCC’) or any other Security Agency in relation to a petition by the British Airways on the loss of jet fuel volumes.
To set the record straight, Asharami Synergy Limited received a letter dated 24th January 2023, from the EFCC, inviting some of its bowser operators at the time for an interview in relation to an alleged case of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretences. Upon receipt of the letter, Asharami Synergy Limited promptly ensured the presence of the requested personnel and cooperated with the authorities to ensure all the suspects were duly apprehended.
In keeping with our commitment to business integrity, Asharami Synergy Limited co-operated with the investigations and provided the necessary support where required by the EFCC throughout the investigation process.
Following EFCC’s investigation, it was discovered that a gang was operating at the said Airport and some bowser operators employed by Asharami Synergy Limited were found to be culpable and accordingly prosecuted by the EFFC and subsequently convicted.
The indicted employees have since been dismissed by Asharami Synergy following the findings of an internal Disciplinary process that established wrongdoing against the erstwhile employees, in line with the company’s sanction grid.
In response to the incident, Asharami Synergy Limited has since made several technology-backed procedural and operational improvements to curb a recurrence of the unfortunate incident. Asharami Synergy Limited has digitized its fuelling process by introducing the ‘’i6 automated into-plane fuelling system’’ across all its four Airfield Depots in Nigeria, where Asharami Synergy Limited operates. This digitization enhances refuelling operations, enabling transparency through the reduction of human interface and interference during the process of fuelling. This also ensures preservation of value for customers as the accurate amount of fuel is dispensed transparently.
In addition, Asharami Synergy Limited in conjunction with the British Airways team (as is the case with other customers) now mandates the Aircraft Pilot to review and endorse the Aviation Delivery Invoice for every delivery of aviation fuel. This extra compliance layer serves to eliminate human error and collusion in any form.
We urge our customers and the public to disregard the misleading story and other iterations that may be published on the matter.
Asharami Synergy Limited, Sahara Energy Resource Limited and all affiliates of Sahara Group operate with integrity in alignment with the highest global standards, subjecting all its processes to the ideals espoused by the Partnering Against Crime Initiative (PACI) of the World Economic Forum.
This continues to propel the growth of the Sahara Brand as a leading sustainable energy and infrastructure conglomerate across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
