A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced two oil marketers, Mamman Nasir Ali and Christian Taylor, to 14 years in prison each for defrauding the Federal Government of Nigeria of ₦2.2 billion in a fraudulent oil subsidy scheme.
Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court delivered the judgment on Tuesday after a lengthy trial that exposed a network of deceit involving falsified documents and bogus claims for petroleum subsidy payments.
The two defendants, alongside Nasaman Oil Services Limited, were re-arraigned on a 57-count amended charge after new developments emerged in the case. The original 49-count charge had accused them of conspiracy, forgery, and obtaining money by false pretence.
Prosecutors told the court that the defendants falsely claimed they imported millions of litres of Premium Motor Spirit and presented forged documents to secure payments under the Petroleum Support Fund.
In one of the instances, they claimed to have imported over 10 million litres of petrol from a company in the British Virgin Islands, using falsified shipping records.
In another instance, they secured ₦1.48 billion by falsely stating that they had imported over 20 million litres through phantom transactions involving vessels like MT Liquid Fortune and MT Hellenic Blue.
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The court heard how the fraudulent representations were knowingly made to receive subsidy payments to which they were not entitled.
The prosecution, led by Seiduh Atteh, called several witnesses and tendered documentary evidence to substantiate the allegations. The defence maintained their innocence and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Initially, the case was handled by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, who later recused himself, prompting its reassignment to Justice Dada. After reviewing the evidence, Justice Dada concluded that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
She ruled that the fraudulent acts not only caused financial losses to the government but also damaged public confidence in Nigeria’s oil subsidy system. Consequently, she sentenced both defendants to 14 years imprisonment and ordered the forfeiture of all assets and bank accounts traced to the fraud.
In addition, the court issued arrest warrants for two other individuals, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Olabisi Abdul-Afeez, who were declared to be at large and linked to the conspiracy.
The convicts, now headed to the Correctional Centre, were found guilty of orchestrating one of the most audacious oil subsidy frauds in the country’s history—illegally claiming more than ₦2.2 billion under false pretenses.
VerityNewsOnline
