Follow Us on Google
By Christopher Oji
Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court,Ikeja,Lagos, yesterday, convicted and sentenced two oil marketers, Mamman Nasir Ali and Christian Taylor, to 14 years imprisonment each for N2.2bn oil subsidy fraud.
They were re-arraigned alongside Nasaman Oil Services Limited on an amended 57-count charge, following new findings in the case.
The defendants had initially been arraigned on a 49-count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, forgery and the use of false documents.
One of the counts reads: “Nasaman Oil Services Ltd, Mamman Nasir Ali, Christian Taylor, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo (now at large) and Olabisi Abdul-Afeez (still at large), on or about the 9th day of November 2011 at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, conspired to obtain the sum of N749,991,273.36 from the Federal Government of Nigeria by falsely claiming that the sum of N749,991,273.36 represented subsidy accruing to Nasaman Oil Services Ltd under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 10,031,986 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which Nasaman Oil Services Ltd purported to have purchased from SEATAC Petroleum Ltd of British Virgin Islands and imported into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ltd of British Virgin Islands and imported into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ltd Ex MT Overseas Lima, which representation you knew to be false.”
Other News
Another count reads: “Nasaman Oil Services Ltd, Mamman Nasir Ali, Christian Taylor, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo (now at large) and Olabisi Abdul-Afeez (still at large),on or about the 11th day of April 2011 at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N1,480,074,125.61 from the Federal Government of Nigeria by claiming that the sum represented subsidy accruing to Nasaman Oil Services Ltd under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 20,492,982.50 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),which Nasaman Oil Services Ltd purported to have purchased from SEATAC Petroleum Ltd of British Virgin Islands and imported into Nigeria through MT Liquid Fortune Ex Mt. Hellenic Blue and Ex MT. Milleura, which representation you knew to be false.”
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges preferred against them.
They were initially standing trial before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
However, Justice Onigbanjo withdrew from the case, thereby prompting the re-assignment of the case to Justice Dada.
