The huge debts, which is said to more than triple the N800 billion debt limit guaranteed to AMCON by the establishment Act, was said to be the subject if discussions between its management and the Senate committee, on Monday. Though the meeting was held behind closed doors, sources in the senate said that the senators were worried that the AMCON was unable to retrieve the debts while the Federal Government is being forced to borrow to fund the 2016 budget. Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru ,who spoke with journalists shortly after the meeting with Senators, said that the lawmakers were in support of its determination to recover the huge debts. He said : ‘‘We have seen that most of the debtors in AMCON are big men that fly in private jets, live in big mansions and they have taken money and they are not paying back. The Senate is really disturbed and they are ready to do anything under the law to ensure that the N5.4trillion that is outstanding obligation of AMCON is repaid. “The Committee, the passion they have shown to us, is unprecedented. Because we show to them in its raw form the challenge that we are having, particularly now that the economy is not doing very well. And where you have less than 5 percent, less than 300 people, accounting for more than 80 percent of the outstanding obligation of AMCON. That is very disturbing,” he stressed. “It is not criminal to borrow money it is only inappropriate not to come and pay those funds because these funds ultimately if we don’t pay them, somehow they carry government guarantee. So, the current body language of the government and from what I have seen from the Senate, there is a harmony and consensus as to the fact that these funds must be paid back.” In October last year, the House of Representatives commenced a similar investigation into operations of AMCON. A member, Hon. Gabriel Onyenweife who moved a motion to that effect in the House claimed that AMCON had accumulated over $25 billion (about N5trillion) debts as against the mandate of its act which puts its debt ceiling at N800 billion. He said that the debt profile has been exceeded by N4.2trillion. The lawmaker had said: “The AMCON balance sheet has a shortfall of N3.8 trillion ($19 billion) and that the geometric accumulation of debts by AMCON will no doubt endanger the dwindling national reserves put at $30 billion since the Federal Government is the guarantor of AMCON bonds as enshrined in Section 27 of AMCON Act, 2010.” He also told his colleagues that AMCON’s accumulated debts in five years were more than the debts owed by the Federal Government to the Paris Club of creditors in 50 years. He added: ”Over N2trillion was lost in the not-too-transparent process adopted in the sale of some banks, including Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Enterprise Bank, and MainStreet Bank.” He also alleged secrecy in the disposal of assets including shares, landed property, plant and equipment . The lawmaker has submitted: “Most of the assets disposed were alleged to have been sold to cronies and close associates of the officials of the corporation without recourse to due process or extant laws. He urged his colleagues to urgently address the negative impact of AMCON’s activities on the banking sector adding that the sector remains the soul of Nigerian economy.]]>