The ongoing trial of Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy Limited, for an alleged N1.4billion fraud, before Justice C.A. Balogun of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos continued on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, with the cross-examination of the fifth prosecution witness, PW5, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC is prosecuting Abubakar and his company on a 27-count charge for allegedly using forged documents to obtain the sum of N1, 464,961,978.24 from the Federal Government as oil subsidy, after allegedly inflating the quantity of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, purportedly imported and supplied by the company.
One of the counts reads: “Nadabo Energy Limited and Abubakar Ali Peters, on or about the 3rd day of April, 2012 at Lagos, within the Lagos Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, fraudulently obtained the sum of N978,401,732.09 (Nine Hundred and Seventy-eight Million Four Hundred and One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-two Naira Nine Kobo) from the Federal Government of Nigeria by falsely claiming that the sum represented subsidy accrued to Nadabo Energy Limited under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 19,488,992 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which Nadabo Energy Limited purported to have purchased from Ashland SA Geneva Switzerland, and transported the 19,488,992 litres of PMS through MT American Express (Mother Vessel) and MT. St. Vanessa (Daughter Vessel) to Nigeria, whereas Nadabo Energy Limited only imported 6,505,140.04 litres of PMS to Nigeria through MT Evridiki (Mother Vessel) and MT St Vanessa (Daughter Vessel).”
Another count reads: “Nadabo Energy Limited and Abubakar Ali Peters, on or about the 25th day of October 2011 at Lagos, within the Lagos Judicial Division, with intent to defraud and in order to facilitate your obtaining money by false pretence from the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF), forged a document titled: Certificate of Marine Insurance no. 0047851 and purported the Marine Insurance certificate to have been issued by Staco Insurance Plc to Nadabo Energy Limited.”
At today’s sitting, the defence counsel, E.O. Isiramen, continued with the cross-examination of the witness, which he began on December 20, 2021.
Under cross-examination, Bawa, who concluded his examination-in-chief on December 20, 2021, again affirmed that the EFCC received several complaints, which necessitated the investigation of the subsidy regime.
Isiramen had sought to know whether the petition by Dino Melaye on behalf of the Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, was what prompted the investigation.
Responding, Bawa explained that it was not the only one, but it formed part of several complaints received by the EFCC, including one from the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, and another from Femi Falana Chambers.
Specifically, Isiramen, who questioned whether the defendant was mentioned anywhere in the petitions, further noted that it was the NNPC that was the subject of the allegations.
Responding, Bawa said: “We just did our investigation acting on the petition.”
When asked if the Commission could just investigate an individual without a petition directly accusing the person of the alleged fraud, the witness answered in the affirmative.
Quoting Section 7 (b) of the EFCC Establishment Act, he said: “The Act gives the EFCC special powers to cause an investigation involving any individual whose lifestyle is not commensurate with his source of income.”
When asked who determines the measure of a person’s lifestyle, he said: “Intelligence based on what we know about the person that his lifestyle is not commensurate with his known source of income, then, the EFCC can
cause an investigation to be carried out. Also, the EFCC can cause an investigation on anybody who is believed to have done something wrong against the EFCC Act.”
Bawa further testified that the bulk of the findings during the course of investigation was from several documents received from the PPPRA and Enterprise Bank, among others.
He was, thereafter, confronted with Exhibit B, the certified true copy of the booklet with regard to the transaction in question, which the EFCC received from the PPPRA, and Exhibit W, a copy of a booklet for the same transaction, which the EFCC received from the defendant.
Going through all the pages, he said: “Some are genuine, while some are not, as confirmed by our investigation.”
Bawa, thereafter, went through all the copies and pointed out each page, which investigation concluded were either genuine or contained false information.
“We have tendered our own documents in this matter,” he added.
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement on Tuesday that the case has been adjourned till March 31, 2022 for continuation of cross-examination, and May 17 and 18, 2022 for continuation of trial.