N1.4bn Oil Fraud: Court Slams 27-Count Charge On Nadabo Energy Company CEO 

The ongoing trial of Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy Limited, for an alleged N1.4billion fraud has been installed in Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.

The Counsel to the defendant, E.O. Isiramen, told the Court that the defence was not ready to continue with the cross-examination of the fifth prosecution witness, PW5, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

It was verified that EFCC was 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.

Isiramen had, on December 20, 2021, begun the cross-examination of the witness. He had further cross-examined the witness on January 25, 2022.

However, at today’s proceedings, which was meant for the continuation of cross-examination, Isiramen told the Court that he would not be able to continue.

He hinged his inability to continue with the cross-examination on the argument that the defence was yet to receive a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the court’s records of proceedings.

The Judge, who expressed surprise at the argument of the defence counsel, stated that the records of proceedings had already been prepared, and that no certification was required since they were needed only for cross-examination of the witness.

Justice C.A. Balogun of the Lagos State High Court, however, Adjourns Till March 29, 2022.