The fake propaganda and malicious report by Jaffer Zeghir of SKM Enterprise against Leonoil Petroleum Company Limited that the High Court of Sierra Leone has ruled in favour of his enterprise is deliberately totally erroneous and orchestrated to tarnish the good business image of the Leonoil Company Limited.

Our investigations are that Leonoil and SKM were in the High Court of Sierra Leone and after a protracted litigation, the Court ruled against the oil company and exempted CEO Jaffer Zeghir and SKM from paying the taxes due to the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL). But given the conspicuous blunder of the High Court in ruling against Leonoil, the oil company without much ado appealed against the ruling in the Appeals Court of Sierra Leone.

The fact that the Appeals Court is yet to commence the hearing is clear indication that the news doing the rounds in both the traditional and social media is figment of the campaigners’ wild imagination.

First, Leonoil filed the appeal in good faith and with the staunch conviction that the High Court ruling went against the Government of Sierra Leone’s tax laws and sets an example that SKM Enterprise CEO Zeghir can get away with tax evasion due to several influences he allegedly continues to wield in threatening and intimidating the Staff and Management of Leonoil.

As an indigenous oil company that does believe in the laws of Sierra Leone, fairness and integrity, Leonoil three years ago went into business with SKW Enterprise that paid for 430,000 litres of fuel of which 230,000 litres were uplifted.

Thereafter, incessant calls were made to CEO Jaffer informing him about an immediate change of price by the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) via the National revenue Authority (NRA) and therefore pleaded with him to collect his remaining 200,000 litres of fuel with immediate effect.

But after CEO Jaffer has dodged several calls, he eventually informed Leonoil that his stations and bulk road vehicles (trucks0 were completely full and consequently, he was unable to receive more product at that time.

According to the usual operating procedure, the Staff and Management of Leonoil advised CEO Jaffer about the importance of collecting his remaining product prior to the government’s change in price or he would have to pay the difference of the government’s imposed increased price. But all attempts by the company’s Staff and Management were in futility.

Following the change, therefore, several attempts were also made to refund the money for the uncollected 200, 000 litres to CEO Jaffer since he had refused to pay the government’s imposed increased price but all attempts were in futility.

These rules set forth by the GoSL are being adhered to by all entities including State House, Foreign Embassies, mining conglomerates, INGOs, NGOs and everyday consumers.

The standard over the last forty years had been that whenever the price of fuel increased, it would affect undelivered products and the difference would be paid by the buyer when the price increased or the supplier would reimburse the difference in price to the buyer.

Despite the price had changed, CEO Jaffer wanted to collect the remaining 200,000 litres of fuel without paying the requisite tax to NRA, a diabolic move which Leonoil vehemently rejected, especially at a time when the GoSL was in dire need of revenue to actualize its development programmes.

These positions had been emphasized to the High Court of Sierra Leone and examples of NRA enforcing collections where these rules are flouted were also presented during the trial.