Arik new management to audit embattled airline’s finances, appoints KPMG

Following the take-over of financial crisis ridden Arik Air by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, KPMG has been contracted to undertake a forensic audit of the airline.

According to National Daily investigation, the audit will among other things investigate Arik Airlines assets, liabilities, utilization of loans, and propriety of third-party transactions as well as the company’s financial position as at January 31, 2017.

Defending its reason for contracting KPMG, the new management under the leadership of Capt Ado Sanusi said it is important for the new management to know the extent of Arik finances.  “We have hired KPMG to look into the financials of Arik with a tooth comb and advise us with verifiable facts on what went wrong with the airline. We need to do that because the outcome will help us plug the loopholes and stabilize the airline,” the statement added. The whole intention is to identify what went wrong with Arik to enable the new management to bring it back to full operations.”

Arik Airline which was last week taken over by AMCON following daunting complaints of huge indebtedness of the airline to various creditors, National Daily gathered that its 21 remaining aircrafts have either been grounded or gone for C-check in Europe.

It was also gathered it owes its technical partners and also in perpetual default in its lease payments and insurance premium, leading to regular and embarrassing squabbles with different business partners, which accounts for why 21 aircraft is off the fleet for different reasons.

All these problems in addition to huge staff salaries, which have remained unpaid for 11 months; vendors that supply different items to Arik Airlines that are also owed meant that Nigerians may have to tarry-a-while to allow the new management clean up the huge mess at the airline before Arik would finally resume uninterrupted flight.

Already, the new management has discovered that it the airline cannot sustain the magnitude of its operations owing to the rot uncovered in the system, according to revelations; the situation is so bad that only nine aircraft out of the 30 in the fleet of the airlines are operational.