The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) has not been able to account for about $50 million worth of petroleum products belonging to BDCs.
The Chief Executive of the Chamber of the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs), Mr. Senyo Hosi, says this came about as a result of storage losses.
He said BDCs store their products with BOST but “BOST has issues with product losses,” resulting in the current situation.
He was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday in response to claims that some BDCs have connived with some officials of BOST to overdraw fuel from the storage facilities of BOST.
Mr Hosi said the claims are baseless and without merit.
According to him, BDCs started using the storage facilities of BOST in 2009 at a time the publicly owned oil storage company had no product of its own in the tankers.
He said it was curious that BDCs would be accused of colluding with BOST officials to overdraw fuel from storage facilities when BOST itself did not have any products in the facilities.
But the Board Chairman of BOST, Mr. Kakra Essamuah disagreed.
He said it is rather the BDCs that owe BOST money.
Mr. Essamuah said when he became the Board Chairman of BOST, he found an incredibly huge amounts of money owed BDCs.
According to him, auditors Ernst and Young were commissioned to investigate the circumstances under which such an amount was owed the bulk oil distributors.
He said a draft report from the auditors showed that it was rather the BDCs who through acts of drawing more fuel than they stored, that caused the losses and should therefore be paying money back to BOST.
Asked how this came about since BOST itself did not have any products, the Board Chairman explained some of the BDCs drew from the stalk of other BDCs and the shortages were blamed on BOST.
When we received the first draft copy of the [audit] report,…we wrote to our own officials whose acts of omission and commission have brought us to this sorry path and we are waiting for their responses,” he stated.
Mr. Essamuah will not say whether a Daily Graphic report imputing fraud to the BDCs and some officials of BOST was an accurate report except to say, “journalists have to do their work, I am doing my work.”
He stressed that the fact that an audit report says BDCs owe BOST money does not mean that the BDCs are ‘thieves.’
“I have not said that the BDCs [have acted] fraudulently, I’m saying that our report that we commissioned indicated that they owed us and if you owe us it does not mean that you are a thief,” he maintained.
Replying, Mr. Hosi said the audit report does not state anywhere that BDCs owe BOST as was being suggested by the Board Chairman.
He alleged that BOST had written letters to BDCs demanding payments in disregard for the matters contained in the Ernst & Young audit report.
“I just beg Kakra, please Kakra, your management is doing something , take a little more time, hear the other side, read my statement and look in the report well and you will realise that your claim and your assertion are false and you are being misled,” he insisted.
