The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned Mamman Ali, son of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Ali, and a Sierra Leonean, Christian Taylor, for their alleged involvement in a N2.2 billion oil subsidy fraud.
A statement by the EFCC on Thursday, said Messrs Ali and Taylor were re-arraigned before the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos State.
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They were re-arraigned alongside an oil firm, Nasaman Oil Services Limited, following an amendment to the case, raising the number of counts from 49 to 57.
The re-arraignment was the second in the last two years in a case that has lasted almost 13 years in court.
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The previous arraignment, necessitated by the withdrawal of the former trial judge, led to the re-arraignment of the defendants before the new judge, Mojisola Dada, on 24 March 2023.
New charges and re-arraignment
The defendants were first arraigned in 2012 on 49 counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences, obtaining money by false pretences, forgery, and the use of false documents.
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, EFCC’s prosecuting lawyer, Seiduh Atteh, informed the court of the amended charges and requested that the defendants take a fresh plea.
Defence counsel Obafemi Kolade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), did not object to the request.
Subsequently, the defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The EFCC alleged that Messrs Ali, Taylor, Nasaman Oil Services Limited, and two other suspects, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Olabisi Abdul Afeez, who are currently at large, fraudulently obtained funds from the federal government on 9 September 2011 for the importation and supply of petrol under the petrol subsidy scheme.
According to the amended charges, the defendants forged a document titled “GASOLINE ANALYSIS”, purportedly issued by Saybolt Concremat aboard the vessel MT Overseas Limar to facilitate the fraudulent subsidy claims.
Adjournment
Following the re-arraignment, Mr Kolade requested additional time to amend his written address in response to the new charges.
The judge, Mojisola Dada, granted the request and directed the prosecution to file a response before the next hearing.
The case was adjourned until 15 April for the adoption of final written addresses.
Background
The defendants were re-arraigned on 24 March 2023, before Mrs Dada.
In one of the counts, EFCC alleged that Nasaman Oil Services Ltd, Messrs Ali, Taylor, Ogunbambo (now at large), and Abdul-Afeez (still at large), on or about 9 November 2011, at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, conspired to fraudulently obtain N749,991,273.36 from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
EFCC stated that the sum was falsely claimed as a subsidy under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 10,031,986 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), purportedly purchased from SEATAC Petroleum Ltd (British Virgin Islands) and imported into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ltd via MT Overseas Limar—a representation they knew to be false.
In another count, the defendants were accused of obtaining N1,480,074,125.61 on 11 April 2011, under the same false pretence, claiming to have imported 20,492,982.50 litres of petrol via MT Liquid Fortune Ex MT Hellenic Blue and Ex MT Milleura.
The fuel subsidy scam was a major highlight of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Nigerians, outraged by the administration’s sudden removal of petrol subsidy in January 2012 leading to an astronomical hike in petrol pump price, trooped to the streets in protest against the policy shift.
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They demanded a reversal of the hike and an extensive probe into alleged corruption in the use of fuel subsidy funds.
The government yielded to the demands in part by reducing the petrol price and ordering a probe into the fuel subsidy funds.
The probe exposed alleged fraud perpetrated by many petrol importers, who received funds to supply petrol to Nigeria under the petrol subsidy.
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