The House of Representatives committee on Public Accounts has written to the minister of Petroleum, Diezeani Alison-Madueke and relevant stakeholders, informing them of its decision to commence full scale probe into the controversial operation of chartered Private Jets for personal local and foreign trips by her.

The lower chamber had mandated the committee chaired by Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, to get details on the curious charter arrangement which allegedly gulped a whooping N10billion in two years, following a motion moved by Samuel Adejare, an APC member from Lagos State.

In the letter dated March 26, the committee asked the minister to within one week submit a written presentation, stating all she knows about the transactions for the chartered private jets, whether or not she was entitled by her portfolio to charter private jets for private use and whether or not she has breached public service rules by her actions.

The committee also sought to know the source of funding for such high taste and other necessary information that would assist it in getting to the root of the matter.

Stakeholders also written to concerning the matter include: the group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, the Evergreen Aviation Terminal and Vista Jet International as well as the Authorities of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.

Olamilekan said the private jet operators are to make available copies of the contract agreements between them and the NNPC from 2011 till date; including all the flight schedules, the passengers’ manifests from the 2011 till date and the amount of money paid to them during the period under review.

The committee has uncovered several new flight schedules operated on foreign trips by the minister between 2012 and 2013.

The passengers’ manifest of the new flight schedules frequently featured the name of the minister and those of one Prince Haruna Omoye and Abubakar Fari Ahmed.

It was also alleged that one of such trips gulped the sum of $300,000 (about N50 million) while  another from the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja to Mastson Airport in the United Kingdom with the Global Express Xrs cost N57.5million as against the normal N6million if it were not to be a chartered flight.

The committee would fix a date for the public hearing on the matter as ordered by the House as soon as it has all the information it seeks.