Mamman Ali, an alleged fuel subsidy thief, used forged documents to steal subsidy funds.

Mamman Ali, the son of former Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, forged documents to fraudulently collect N4.4 billion as petrol subsidy payments, a witness told a Lagos court on Wednesday.

A prosecution witness, Chidi Onyedikwe, told an Ikeja High Court that some of the documents used by Mamman Ali were forged.

Mr. Onyedikwe was testifying at the resumed trial of Mamman, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over a subsidy scam.

The accused was charged alongside Christian Taylor, a Sierra Leonean; Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, an oil marketer; and Nassaman Oil Services.

Mr. Onyedikwe, the Lagos branch manager of Inspectorate Marine Services Nigeria Ltd., had, on February 21, testified that the defendants used fraudulent documents to obtain the money.

Under cross-examination by counsels to the defendants, Kolade Obafemi, and Adebayo Adenipekun, the witness maintained that his company did not issue the documents.

Mr. Onyedikwe listed the documents to include cargo transfer, certificate of quantity, certificate of quality and haulage, all bearing the logos, signatures and stamps of his company.

He said: “As I said, we went through our operational records, our laboratory records and account records.

“Those documents did not emanate from our company even though it was bearing our logos, stamps and signatures.”

Mr. Onyedikwe said that while the haulage report showed that the defendants had imported the petroleum products and that his company had inspected the products, his company did not assign any of its inspectors to carry out the said transaction.

The EFCC had in its charges, claimed that the defendants presented the documents to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, to obtain the subsidy.

The case, which is being heard by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, was adjourned to May 28.

(NAN)