By Taiwo Adebowale, Senior Business Correspondent
IKEJA, Lagos — On Monday, March 25, 2024, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, appeared before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, with another prosecution witness, Popoola Olayiwola, a staff member of the Debt Management Office, or DMO, against Mamman Nasir Ali and Christian Taylor. The two are accused of committing a N2.2 billion oil subsidy fraud.
Together with Nasaman Oil Services Limited, they were charged on amended 49 counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, which violates Sections 8 and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006; obtaining money by false pretence, which violates Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006; forgery, which violates Section 363 (3)(j) of the Lagos State 2011 Criminal Law; and use of false documents, which violates Section 364 of the Lagos State 2011 Criminal Law.
One of the counts states: “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 (Seven Hundred and Forty-Nine Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy-Three Naira Thirty-six Kobo) 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.”
Another count states: “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 (One Billion Four Hundred and Eighty Million, Seventy-Four Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-Five Naira Sixty-One Kobo) 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.”
When the accusations were read to them, they entered a “not guilty” plea to every one of them.
At first, they were on a standing trial before Lagos State High Court Judge Adeniyi Onigbanjo, who was based in Ikeja, Lagos.
But Justice Onigbanjo resigned from the case, which led to Justice Dada receiving the new assignment.
The prosecution witness, Olayiwola, informed the court during the Monday session that he was designated as Operations Officer 1 at the time the Sovereign Debt Note, or SDN, in question was issued.
Olayiwola, led in testimony by S.K. Atteh, the prosecution’s attorney, stated: “I’m Assistant Chief Operations Officer in the DMO now. In 2012, I was in charge of preparation of SDN in favour of oil marketers for their subsidy claim. I also prepare letters of issuance notification to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and supervise the collection of SDN by oil marketers”.
Olayiwola informed the court that he was also responsible for writing redemption letters to be sent to the CBN when SDN matured. “I also do reconciliation with CBN on the SDN,” he stated.
Olayiwola clarified that SDN was the short-term financial instrument issued by the DMO under the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Petroleum Support Fund, which was run by the fund between 2010 and 2015.
He went on to list other characteristics of the SDN, such as the Federal Government’s crest, which designates the SDN’s issuer; the amount of subsidy claimed or owed to oil marketers; and a unique serial number that identifies each SDN in a batch of subsidy claims.
He stated: “It also has an issue date, the maturity date, signature of the Director General, and DG of the DMO. When it is collected from the DMO, a photocopy of the ID card of the person who collected it is taken with a copy of the SDN.”
In his testimony, he further stated that Nasaman Oil Services Limited was one of the businesses for whom he had developed SDN in 2012.
“While performing my duties at the DMO, I became acquainted with the company.
About five SDNs were prepared for Nasaman Oil Services Limited in total, according on the DMO’s record,” he stated.
He then pointed out two SDN copies that were already on the court’s docket as Exhibit P13 in open court. “I can confirm that the two in contention were issued to Nasaman Oil Services Limited,” he stated.
“I can confirm, based on the exhibits before me, that Christian Taylor is the person who collected the said SDN from the DMO, and he also acknowledged receipt,” he stated.
The two SDNs in dispute are identified by him as follows: “The amount involved for SDN with serial number FGN/2011/01/Y110586 is N749,991,273.36.”The amount is N1,480,074,125.61 for the second SDN, which has the serial number FGN/2012/01/B12B/0692.”
Christian H. Taylor was named by the witness as “he collected the two SDNs” in the dock.
The case was postponed by the judge until March 26, 2024.
