EFCC closes case in £2.6bn fraud trial

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has closed its case in a £2.6bn alleged fraud charge against an oil firm, Petro Union Oil and Gas Limited, its directors and a consultant to the company.

The consultant is Abayomi Kukoyi (trading under the name of Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates), while the company’s directors on trial are Prince Kingsley Okpala, Prince Chidi Okpalaeze and Prince Emmanuel Okpalaeze.

While closing its case before Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday, the anti-graft agency called its last witness, Nathaniel John Webb, a senior investigative officer at the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom.

Webb told Justice Liman that the NCA was assigned to investigate the activities and status of two firms, Gazeaft Limited and Goldmatic Limited, which were allegedly used by the defendants to perpetrate the crime.

The witness also informed the court how he made enquiries at Barclays Bank in London on the status of the two firms and found out that they had been wound up and the accounts closed in 1987 and 1989, respectively.

He further told the court that when the cheque for £2.6bn drawn on Gazeaft Limited was presented to Union Bank for clearing in 1994, the company and its account at Barclays Bank were not in existence. He also told the court that there was no evidence of the lodgement of the £2.6bn cheque at Barclays Bank at any time during the existence of Gazeaft Limited and while the account was in existence.

Earlier, an EFCC investigative officer, SuleimanYusuf, also testified that he was part of the team that arrested the defendants.

“I am one of the team that investigated this matter. We investigated the matter as a team, and I played many roles at the time. During the investigation, the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom was contacted for enquiries on the two firms used in perpetrating the fraud. The report of the investigation of the NCA was sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and has been tendered as evidence before the court,” he stated.

Following the conclusion of EFCC’s case, the defence lawyers informed the court that their clients would be filing a no case submission.

The EFCC had on February 13, 2020 arraigned the directors on 13 counts bordering on the alleged fraud and on January 27, 2021, they were re-arraigned on seven counts. The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the amended charges.

Further hearing in the matter has been adjourned till June 21, 2023 for the hearing of the defendants’ no case submission.