We act as solicitors for Dr Doyin Okupe and his Companies .We confirm that in the year 2004 and 2005 two Companies of which Dr Okupe has substantial interests and served as Chairman obtained Rural Road construction Contracts from Benue and Imo States Governments. We also confirm that mobilizations were paid against presentations of Bank Guarantees submitted by the companies to cover the Amounts in line with the demand of due process.
We also confirm that contrary to reports in the media, on no account did any of the companies bolt away with any money and if they had, the state governments would have legally had recourse to the Bank Guarantees issued , held the banks accountable and recovered their monies.
We confirm that in both contracts the company went far beyond the issue of mobilization, in fact the companies received other payments over a period exceeding two years continuously for work done that went far beyond the level of mobilization.
Disputes about certificates of payments arose in the matters of these contracts as it is not unusual between a contractor and its employers
These issues were at different times thoroughly investigated by the EFCC. At no point in time was a case of Fraud or any criminality whatsoever found against any of the Companies, otherwise the EFCC would have since taken the matters to court.
In the case of Imo State Government a settlement agreement out of court was reached while in Benue State both parties agreed to go in for arbitration in accordance with the provisions of the signed contract document.
These are all Civil and Commercial matters not involving any form of fraud or criminality. Also the Contracts were awarded and executed by duly registered companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission, with a full complement of board Directors including foreign nationals. None of the contracts were awarded to the person of Dr Doyin Okupe.
We confirm that all the above Statements are true as responsible Solicitors and that we represented these companies legally in all the matters raised above.
Signed ,Yemi Gbonegun Esquire
YEMI GBONEGUN AND CO
Western House (11th Floor), 8/10 Broad street, Lagos
Tel: 08033235044, 08075558729 01 8176596 E mail: yemigbo@yahoo.com