Breaking: EFCC chairman Bawa testifies in N1.4bn oil subsidy fraud trial
- The chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has testified in an oil subsidy fraud trial
- Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy, is being prosecuted for allegedly using forged documents to obtain N1,464,961,978.24 from the federal government
- The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the prosecution’s fraud charge
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Abdulrasheed Bawa, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has appeared before an Ikeja high court to give evidence in a N1.4 billion fraud trial involving an oil company, Nadabo Energy.
Vanguard reports that Bawa, before his confirmation as EFCC chairman, had earlier appeared before the court last year as a prosecution witness.
Legit.ng gathered that the EFCC had accused Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy of allegedly using forged documents to obtain N1,464,961,978.24 from the federal government as oil subsidy.
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The newspaper noted that the defendants had pleaded not guilty to the prosecution’s fraud charge.
The report said that Bawa, in his previous testimony, had told the court that based on the investigation carried out on the defendant’s dealings with Staco Insurance company, the certificate of marine insurance used by the defendant for the transaction in question was forged.
The matter was adjourned by Justice Balogun to February 10, 16, 23 and March 9, 2021, for the continuation of the trial.
The report said that Bawa is currently giving more evidence in the trial as at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Mohammed Wakil, a former minister of state for power, was remanded in the custody of the EFCC by the high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It was reported that that Justice Suleiman Belgore, in a ruling on Monday, March 8, ordered that Wakil remains in EFCC’s custody until March 31, when his formal bail application would be considered.
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Justice Belgore gave the ruling when the prosecution opposed the oral bail application made by his lawyer.
The former minister, who was arrested by the EFCC at his Abuja residence on Sunday, March 7, was arraigned on Monday with two companies, Corozzeria Nigeria Limited and Pikat Properties Nigeria Limited.
The EFCC accused Wakil of receiving N148 million as gratification from Bestworth Insurance Brokers Limited out of the N27,188,232,208 approved outstanding insurance premiums and claims of deceased and incapacitated staff of Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
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Wale Akinola is a passionate journalist and researcher. He works as a senior political/current affairs editor at Legit.ng. He holds both B.A and Master’s degree in Communications and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan. He also holds a Diploma Certificate in Peace Journalism. He has over 15 years of work experience in both print and online media. He derives joy in keeping the public abreast of current happenings locally and internationally through his writings.
Source: Legit.ng
