Posted by By Chijama Ogbu with agency reports on
Panalpina World Transport Holding Limited said it would suspend operations in Nigeria.
Panalpina World Transport Holding Limited said it would suspend operations in Nigeria.
The Swiss freight forwarder is being probed by the United States authorities over alleged improper payments to officials of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The suspension which involves temporary importation services for oil and gas clients, will hurt earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation by between 20 million and 30 million Swiss francs ($25m) this year, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said on Thursday in an e-mailed statement.
'Despite this impact, the company has confirmed its positive outlook and financial guidance for 2007," according to a statement quoted by Bloomberg News.
The Nigerian arm of the Switzerland-based freight forwarder declined to comment on the development.
A source that preferred not to be quoted said the Nigerian arm was not aware of the development.
'Our operations are still on. I am hearing that for the first time," the source said, but pleaded not to be quoted.
Panalpina in July said it started an examination of potentially 'improper payments" in Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia after US authorities asked it to provide documents about shipping services for clients in these countries.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that the US Justice Department contacted 11 oil industry companies as part of the investigation into possibly illegal payments made to Customs officials.
Sources said the company had also directed its Nigeria's Managing, West Africa, North Area, Mr. Peter Triebel, to investigate the matter.
Nigerian Customs officials have been accused in recent times over corruption charges in spite of efforts to curb corruption.
In 2005, the government constituted a committee headed by the then Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to draw up a reform roadmap aimed at curtailing corruption within the Customs Service and strengthen it to facilitate hitch-free trade around the nation's entry and exit points.
A report on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's website noted that industrialists had expressed worry over goods clearance at the ports, in the light of the corrupt practices in the process.
Customs spokesperson, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, when contacted on the phone declined to comment on the story, citing communications network problems.
'I will call you back," he said but never did.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian services of Panalpina will remain suspended at least until the end of the investigations, Bloomberg News said.