EFCC chairman testifies in N1.4bn oil subsidy fraud trial

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, appeared before an Ikeja High Court on Wednesday to give evidence in a N1.4 billion fraud trial.

The fraud trial involved an oil company, Nadabo Energy, which Bawa had earlier testified against before his appointment as the EFCC boss.

Bawa, who is the fifth prosecution witness,  had told Justice C.A. Balogun of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja that the defendant used forged documents to benefit from the Federal Government’s subsidy regime.

Bawa had in February identified two documents as email correspondence between him and Ullrich Afini Awani of Global Commodities Africa and the Certificate of Identification.

On Wednesday, the EFCC boss led in evidence by the tribunal counsel, Saidu Ateh, continued his testimony by analysing the email correspondences of the defendant.

He said that the email exposed significant fraud in the documents presented by the company to the Petroleum Support Fund.

Bawa said his investigation showed that the defendants took about 6 million litres PMS from the mother vessel to their chartered vessel.

“In addition, the email also informed us that one Mr Jide Akpan was the agent of the vessel.

“We invited the said Akpan and during the course of our interrogation with him he confirmed that the first defendant through the second defendant deferred the vessel and paid for it,” he told the court.

Abubakar Peters (Managing Director), alongside his company, Nadabo Energy Limited, were arraigned on December 10, 2012, before Justice L. Balogun of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos for offences bordering on obtaining money by false pretences, forgery and uttering forged documents to the tune of N1, 464, 961, 978. 24.

They were alleged to have obtained the money from the Federal Government by falsely claiming that it represented the subsidy accruing to them.

The defendants pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them.