Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Monday concluded his testimony in the trial of Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy Limited.
Peters and his company are facing a 21-count charge bordering on forgery and subsidy fraud to the tune of N761.6 million. He is being prosecuted by the EFCC before Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
“Nadabo Energy Limited and Abubakar Ali Peters, on or about the 26th day of September 2011 in Lagos, within the Ikeja judicial division, fraudulently obtained the sum of N761,628,993.84 from the Federal Government by falsely representing that the sum represented the subsidy accrued to Nadabo Energy Limited under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 16,808,064 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which Nadabo Energy Limited purported to have purchased from Delano Petroleum Corporation Akara Tortola British Virgin Island, and transported the 16,808,064 litres through MT Gotland Carolina (mother vessel) and MT Sonia (daughter vessel) to Nigeria, whereas Nadabo Energy Limiter only imported 7,953,962 litres of PMS from Delany Petroleum Corporation Akara Tortola British Virgin Island and transported 7,953,962 litres of PMS through MT Gotland Carolina (mother vessel) and MT Songa (daughter vessel) to Nigeria,” one of the counts read.
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when he was arraigned on October 7, 2015, thereby prompting the commencement of his trial.
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But Bawa, who testified as the second witness, concluded his cross-examination by the defence.
Under cross-examination by Isiramen, Bawa said, “Our findings and evidence are still that you cannot discharge what you didn’t import.
“And our investigation, including documents from the banks, Staco Insurance Plc, PPPRA and others, indicated that the defendant supplied about 6,000 MT of PMS and not 12,000 MT as claimed by the defendant.”
Bawa further attested that investigation by the EFCC revealed that those who signed the respective documents resulting in the eventual payment to the defendants “did not do the right thing from our findings.”
“However, we were looking at the bigger picture in the interest of justice and concluded that the defendant was the beneficiary of the alleged compromise,” he added.
He further told the Court that “We have started making recoveries from the defendant and we have a statement in which he put in writing that he is willing to pay back the excess money he received from the government.”
Bawa also reinstated that other directors of the company told the EFCC, during investigations, that they didn’t know anything about the transaction.
He said, “He never denied that he was in charge of everything that has to do with the transaction. We were only doing our job and we found out that the entire fund was utilised by him.”
The case has been adjourned till May 10 for the continuation of trial.
