State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Special Assistant Eric Phillips has stated that accusations of conflict of interest levelled against him have “no substance to the claim.”
In a public statement, Phillips admitted that he was member of the African Business Roundtable (ABR), which applied for oil blocks in 2016 but said that he became inactive in December 2016 and was not appointed to SARA until May of 2017.
“Yes, I was a member of the ABR Group that applied but was not lead person involved in the application and had very little to do with it since December 2016. My appointment with SARA was May 2017,” he said, while adding that the group was not awarded any of the oil blocks it applied for.