By Emma Njoku

The Ikeja High Court in Lagos, yesterday, for the umpteenth time, adjourned the N1.4 billion oil subsidy fraud charge brought before it by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Nadaba Energy Limited, following the absence of Counsels to the defendant.

When the matter was called up by Justice S.S. Ogunsanya, counsels to EFCC announced their presence but none of the counsels to the defendant was present, prompting Justice Ogunsanya to adjourn further hearing on the case till today, by  9am.

Present at the court, yesterday, was the chairman of EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, who investigated the case when he was an operative of the anti-graft agency, in 2015.

Addressing journalists, yesterday, shortly after the case was adjourned, the EFCC boss insisted that the agency had enough evidence to prove that Nadaba Energy Limited inflated the volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) it claimed to have imported.    

“The charge we have is a matter we have brought to the court since 2015, which has to do with a petroleum subsidy fraud.

“From our findings, we believe that the defendant falsified the volume of petrol that he imported into the country. He claimed to have imported about 6.8million litres of PMS, while our investigation revealed that he imported about 8million litres of PMS. That’s why we are in court, and the matter could not go on today because the Counsels to the defendant were not in court. But we continue tomorrow (today) by 9am God willing,” Bawa said.

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The anti-graft agency is prosecuting the defendants (Nadabo Energy and its chairman, Abubakar Peters) for allegedly obtaining N1.4billion from the Federal Government as oil subsidy using forged documents. The defendants are also being accused of inflating the quantity of petrol purportedly supplied to the Federal Government to 14,000 metric tonnes.

On March 10, this year, the EFCC boss (barely five days after he was confirmed as chairman of the anti-graft agency by the Senate)  had narrated to the court how he investigated the case as an operative of the anti-graft agency.

He said: “Emails further confirmed that the same quantity of petrol (6million litres) was discharged at Port Harcourt. The email also informed us that one Mr Jideofor Akpan was the agent of the vessel (MT St Vanessa).

“We invited the said Akpan and during the course of our interview with him, he confirmed to us (EFCC) that the first defendant (Nadabo Energy), through the second defendant (Peters), chartered the vessel (MT St Vanessa) and paid for it. My lord, he volunteered the statement to us and also submitted several documents to us.”

Bawa said that during the interview, he presented to Akpan the purported shipping documents that the defendants submitted to the Petroleum Products Price and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for payment of subsidy.

“MT American Express is the vessel the defendant claimed to have given the product. My Lord, Akpan confirmed to us that MT St Vanessa had nothing to do with MT American Express, but rather St Vanessa loaded product from MT Evriduk,” he said.