The Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has sentenced two oil marketers to 14 years in prison for a N2.2 billion fuel subsidy fraud, part of a major oil sector scandal that caused public outrage in 2012.
Mamman Ali, a son of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairperson Ahmadu Ali, and his co-defendant, Christian Taylor, were jailed on Tuesday, after 13 years of trial.
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Trial judge Mojisola Dada held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) proved the fraud charges against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
The convicts faced amended 57 counts of fraud, with the EFCC accusing them of fraudulently obtaining money from the federal government in 2011 purportedly for importing various volumes of petrol into Nigeria under the subsidy scheme.
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The judge, who ordered the forfeiture of bank accounts and other assets linked with the fraud, held that the actions of the defendants not only defrauded the government but also undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s oil subsidy programme.
Fuel subsidy saga
In January 2012, then-President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to end the fuel subsidy regime, citing the unsustainability of the ballooning costs.
The administration said the surging costs of subsidy was draining resources meant for development.
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But the government faced stiff resistance, with the popular nationwide #OccupyNigeria protests breaking out across Nigerian cities.
Outraged protesters called for the restoration of the subsidy scheme and asked the government to, instead, go after corrupt oil marketers and government officials whose unchecked fraudulent activities were responsible for the astronomical leap in the subsidy costs.
Partially bowing to pressure, the President Jonathan administration restored part of the subsidy which reduced the hike in petrol pump price that had shot up about 90 per cent when the subsidy removal was first announced.
The government brought charges against several oil marketers, who were implicated by EFCC investigations, for defrauding the petrol subsidy system.
Some of them, who faced prosecution, have been freed and others jailed in the last 13 years, since the anti-graft agency started multiple prosecutions.
Mr Ali and his co-defendants’ trial is one of the longest running among the cases.
Fraud
EFCC alleged that, on 11 April 2011 in Lagos, Mr Ali and his co-defendant fraudulently obtained N1.48 billion from the federal government as payments for 20,492,982.50 litres of petrol which Mr Ali’s firm, Nasaman Oil Services Ltd, claimed to have imported into Nigeria under the Petroleum Support Fund.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Nasaman Oil Services Ltd fraudulently claimed the money from the government under the pretext of purchasing the petrol from SEATAC Petroleum Ltd of British Virgin Islands and imported it into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ex Mt. Hellenic Blue and Ex MT. Milleura.
Similarly, the EFCC alleged that on 9 November 2011 in Lagos, the defendants fraudulently obtained about N750 million from the Nigerian government by claiming that it was the accrued payments for 10,031,986 litres of petrol that Nasaman Oil Services Ltd purportedly imported into Nigeria under the fuel subsidy scheme.
EFCC said the defendants falsely claimed to have purchased the petrol from SEATAC Petroleum Ltd of British Virgin Islands and imported it into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ltd Ex MT Overseas Lima, which representation they knew to be false.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants scammed the government by submitting forged loan facility documents and fake shipping documents to claim the money.
At the time of the alleged fraud, Mr Ali’s father, Ahmadu Ali, a former chairman of the then-ruling PDP, was the chair of the board of the defunct Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) overseeing the petrol subsidy regime.
The House of Representatives, after investigations prompted by the #OccupyNigeria protests, recommended that Ahmadu Ali be prosecuted for his roles in the monumental corruption that characterised the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) management between 2009 and 2011.
The recommendation for Ahmadu Ali’s prosecution was contained in the report of the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc House Committee on Fuel Subsidy led by Farouk Lawan.
Mr Lawan himself would later be convicted of receiving a $500,000 bribe during the legislative probe into the fuel subsidy regime. He completed his five-year jail time in October last year.
Alleged conspirators on the run
EFCC said Mr Ali and his co-convict Mr Taylor perpetrated the N2.2 billion fuel subsidy fraud alongside two other persons – Olabisi Abdul-Afeez and Oluwaseun Ogunbambo – who are said to still be on the run.
In her judgement convicting the two men on Tuesday, the judge issued a warrant for the arrest of the two alleged fugitives.
Protracted trial
Mr Ali and Mr Taylor had pleaded not guilty to the amended 57 counts of fraud.
They initially faced 47 counts which the EFCC subsequently ramped up to 57 in the course of the trial.
READ ALSO: EFCC recovers part of CBEX funds, arrests two suspects – Official
The trial suffered incessant setbacks, including reassignment of the case to another judge, stalling its progress which ensured it lingered in court for 13 years.
The defendants were initially standing trial before Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja.
However, Mr Onigbanjo withdrew from the case, prompting the re-assignment of the case to Mrs Dada.
During the trial, the prosecution led by Seiduh Atteh presented witnesses and tendered documents, which were admitted by the court, to prove its case against the defendants.
Delivering her judgment on Tuesday, Mrs Dada found the evidence presented by the prosecution compelling.
She sentenced each of the two men to 13 years in prison.
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