The Officer-In–Charge of National Oil Company (NOCAL), Jacob Kabakollie has rubbished recent media report alleging that he squandered US$600,000 as baseless, malicious and without merit.
Addressing the Ministry of Information press briefing on Monday, April 1, 2024, Kabakollie said at no point in his oversight responsibility at NOCAL did he ever sign off on any disbursement of such a sum to anybody.
He said those claims are not only false but are a deliberate attempt at tarnishing a reputation built on integrity and dedication to national progress.
“I am further convinced that the actors behind this ruse have a more immediate intention to discredit the President’s appointment of officers in charge and to undermine the amount of consideration His Excellency gave to making this decision. With this realization, I am even more compelled to address the issues as I am now doing,” he said.
He said some media institutions have demonstrated remarkable professionalism in investigative journalism, by seeking out and making inquiries into the validity of the story.
He said there are factual details of the project’s progression and financial transactions prior to his appointment as Officer-in-Charge.
“On July 13, 2023, NOCAL entered into a contract with BMC Group Inc for an office construction project valued initially at $2.9 million. This contract was duly processed and appears to have adhered to the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) guidelines. The first payment to BMC, totaling $1,456,928.84 million, was made on July 17, 2023, signifying the commencement of the contractual obligations. This payment was made in two separate checks of US$728, 464, 42 each,” NOCAL Boss Kabakollie explained.
According to him, the actual construction began in November 2023, followed by a contract amendment on November 23, 2023. This amendment, approved by the PPCC, increased the contract value to $4.5 million to accommodate necessary project adjustments. The new amount represented an increment of US$1.5 million or 51.72%.
He said NOCAL hired TSC Global as its Project Consultant with the primary responsibility of monitoring, evaluating, and certifying that BMC was carrying out the project according to the terms and specifications of the contract.
The NOCAL boss further said on December 15, 2023, an additional payment of $ 796,259.39 was made to BMC, bringing the total disbursement to $2.2 million, which accounted for 50% of the revised contract value and is crucial to note that these developments, including the financial transactions, occurred before his appointment.
“My official responsibilities commenced on January 29, 2024, by which time the project was well advanced and the outlined payments had been completed,” he said.
