Oando Plc has denied allegations linking the company and its executives to Raz Hansir Oil Terminal Ltd., a Maltese company purportedly involved in importing adulterated petroleum products into Nigeria.
Oando Plc was alleged to operate an oil storage and blending facility, and purportedly responsible for importing adulterated petroleum products into Nigeria.
Company Secretary, Oando Plc, Ms Ayotola Jagun, in a statement to the floor of Nigerian Exchange Ltd.(NGX) in Lagos, declared that neither Oando nor its executives had ever held shares, investments or interests in the fictitious Maltese company.
She said: “As part of a comprehensive investigation into the basis of the false claims, we conducted a search of the Malta Business Registry, the official repository for all registered entities, past and current, within the country.
“Our search yielded no results for a company bearing that name. Subsequent due diligence efforts similarly failed to uncover any record of the company’s existence.
“We, therefore, believe that the false claims are of malicious intent, aimed at misleading the public and our stakeholders.”
The company secretary reiterated that as a publicly listed company, any corporate actions, such as acquisitions, were declared publicly in accordance with applicable corporate governance laws and rules.
Jagun noted that information released about a publicly quoted company such as Oando was thoroughly researched and deemed accurate before been published in the public domain.
She added that the company’s securities were traded daily across two exchanges: the NGX and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
“To prevent misinformation and confusion among investors, as well as our other stakeholders, we implore all members of the press to take adequate steps to ensure the veracity of reports by fielding all enquiries with Oando Plc’s Corporate Communications department,” Jagun said.