Three days after the House of Representatives absolved the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe of any wrong doing in the allegations of illegal sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil, Mrs Bebe Ann Ramirez, the wife of one of the fraudsters in the crude oil saga, Mr Marco A. Ramirez, is set to be jailed by a U.S. Court.
Bebe Ann Ramirez, who is currently on bail but barred from travelling out of the U.S., was previously set for sentencing on May 4, 2023 but now due for sentencing on August 3, 2023 in the 9th floor courtroom of United States District Court, 1701 W. Business Highway 83, McAllen, Texas.
Just like her husband, Ramirez, who is confirmed by the U.S. Government, as a global fraudster wanted in the country for mail and wire fraud as well as felony, Bebe Ann Ramirez, has pleaded guilty to Count One of the Superseding Indictment.
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Mrs Ramirez has requested that the court should grant her permission to travel to Odessa, Texas from June 16 to June 21, 2020 to assist her son with relocating to Odessa, a recent college graduate, who was to begin a new job on June 22, 2020.
Findings revealed that Mrs Ramirez is the “sole parent’’ providing care for her son and had fully complied with the conditions of her release.
She is presently on bond pending her sentencing and her travel is limited by the conditions of her bond.
Defendant Bebe Ann Ramirez had “respectfully requested’’ that the unopposed motion be granted and accordingly, the court had granted her permission to travel, according to Jason M. Davis, Attorney-in-Charge State Bar No. 00793592 Southern District ID No. 20114.
Counsel had conferred with Assistant United States Attorney David Lindenmuth, who has indicated that the government was unopposed to the motion.
THE WHISTLER had reported that an Ad-hoc Committee that was set up by the House of Representatives to investigate the alleged loss of over $2.4bn in revenue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of Crude Oil in 2015 including crude oil exports from 2014 to date had absolved the NNPC Ltd.
The allegations about 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil stored in China being sold
illegally without the proceeds being remitted into the account of the Federation surfaced in
2015 immediately after the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration but only became rife after an online news platform-Point Blank News owned by a Nigeria on asylum in the United States of America Mr Jackson Ude published the story with attachments that included a letter to the then Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) from a Nigerian law firm called Lords & Temple.
The law firm had claimed to be
solicitors to a Mexican company called SAMANO SA DE CV and its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) a certain Jose Salazar Tinajero.
The law firm claimed in the letter
that Mr Tinajero was approached by an unidentified group in China in 2015 about the intention of the NNPC to sell 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude which they alleged had been stolen from Nigeria and stored in tank farms in China.
The letter from Lords & Temple also claimed Mr Tinajero provided the information about the stolen crude to then NNPC Group General Manager (GGM) Crude Oil Marketing Department (COMD) Malam Mele Kyari who was the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD) when the letter was written by the law firm, the late Chief of Staff to the President and Retired Air Commodore Umar Mohammed Gololo.
The law firm claimed their client became aware in October 2015 of the efforts by the NNPC to sell the allegedly stolen crude in China and wrote an email to Malam Mele Kyari through an associate of their client a certain Marco Antonio Ramirez expressing their interest to buying the crude but did not receive a positive response from Kyari or the Nigerian Government.
The law firm also claims officials of their client were exposed to the threat of life harassment and persecution for seeking compensation from the Nigerian government for the information they provided about allegedly stolen crude oil cargoes in China and subsequently wrote additional letters to the then Minority Leader of the Senate Senator Godswill Akpabio and the
former Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) Malam Lawal Musa Daura about their claims.
The letter from the law firm was accompanied by attachments which were published by Point Blank News and included alleged authorization by NNPC bonny terminal
for the sale of 9 million barrels of crude oil in storage in unverified tank farms in China which was allegedly part of an approved quantity to be lifted from the Bonny terminal, alleged storage information from the tank farms in China.
It also contained copies of alleged email and WhatsApp exchanges between representatives of SAMANO SA DE CV (Jose Salazar Tinajero and Marco Antonio
Ramirez) with Kyari, an alleged picture of SAMANO representatives with Kyari at Transcorp Hilton, alleged picture of Jose Salazar Tinajero with Air Commodore Umar
Mohammed (Rtd) and copies of letters written by Mr Tinajero on behalf of SAMANO to the President which the law firm confirmed was not delivered.
During the course of it’s investigation, the Committee discovered that neither Ramirez or Tinajero has provided or has been able to provide the identity of the so-called group in China that alerted Mr Tinajero to the existence of up to 48 million barrels
of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil in China to ascertain the veracity of their claims.
It was further discovered by the Committee that contrary to claims by Lords & Temple in their letter that their client was in possession of documents including bank transfer details, names of vessels and their captains to show that the allegedly stolen crude was illicitly sold by some officials of the Nigerian government and the NNPC, none of these documents or any other documents have been provided by either Rarnirez or Tinajero to corroborate their allegations.
From records made available to the Committee, it was able to establish that Nigeria produces about 250,000 barrels of
bonny light crude daily and is exported mainly from one terminal (Bonny) so it would take
about 6 months and 12 days for up to 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s bonny light crude to be produced.
“It is not feasible to think for over half a year the entire quantity of this very sought after type of crude oil grade produced by Nigeria and exported from this terminal was stolen
out of the country without trace. 48 million barrels of crude translates to not less than 48 vessel cargoes of crude oil using the
usual maximum loading quantity of averagely around 950,000 barrels per vessel with adequate draft at the terminal.
“It is not feasible that up to 48 vessels which have identifiable IMO numbers would be utilized to steal Nigeria’s crude oil without a trace when a letter of credit (LC) is usually required to be issued for each crude oil export from Nigeria,” the Committee said in its repprt.
In the Committee ‘s report, the DSS was said to have confirmed receipt of a letter from Jose Salazar Tinajero to the former DSS DG on behalf of SAMANO SA DE CV alleging existence of stolen crude oil from Nigeria in China.
Considering the magnitude of these allegations the DG responded to the letter expressing the interest of the service to verify these allegations and requesting that SAMANO provide the service with related documents and evidence to assist the service in carrying out its investigation.
The DSS did not receive corroborating evidence or documents from SAMANO
and after very high-level correspondence and communication with the authorities in China, the DSS concluded in correspondence to the committee that the entire allegations by SAMANO were a scam intended for a pecuniary benefit.
Ramirez was said to have collected over $500,000.00 (Five hundred thousand dollars) from vulnerable Nigerians. Luck had reportedly run out on him and was arrested.
His arrest in Nigeria was in connection with a company he owns together with his wife in the U.S named “USA NOW” from which they reportedly defraud innocent citizens of Mexico and Nigerians with the promise of green cards, using the U.S EB-5 Visa Programme.
The U.S. has, according to reports, set a sentencing date for his wife, Bebe Ramirez, and brother David Perez scheduled for August 6, 2020.
Ramirez was said to have come into Nigeria with an American passport, and the Federal Government, through the office of the DSS had to write to the American Embassy to report his criminality.
A United States District Court, according to findings by Per Second News, had issued a bench warrant for his arrest with his wife, Bebe Ramirez and his brother, David Perez.
According to FBI indictment, Marco Ramirez is wanted for various advance fee fraud crimes, and also engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity and conspiracy to commit fraud.