Alleged Fuel Subsidy Fraud: Bawa In Court To Testify Against Nadabo Energy

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa has arrived in the Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

The EFCC Boss is in court to continue his testimony on how an oil marketer, Abubakar Peters, and his company, Nadabo Energy Limited allegedly forged documents to obtain N1.4billion as subsidy from the Federal Government.

Bawa is the star prosecution witness in the case.

The defendant is also in court.

Today’s case is before Justice Christopher Balogun but the defendant is facing similar charges before Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya of the same court.

Earlier in September, the EFCC boss gave extensive details of how the EFCC conducted its investigations and uncovered the fraud. Through the witness, the court also admitted in evidence several documents as proof of the alleged fraud.

Led in evidence by the Counsel to the Commission, Mr Seidu Atteh, the EFFC Chairman also told the court how the commission in 2012 received a complaint from the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, alleging fraud in the importation of PMS by the firm Nadabo Energy Ltd.

It equally received a petition from the law firm of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana.

These petitions and another from a civil society group formed the bedrock of the investigation against Abubakar Peters and his company.

A special team constituted by the EFCC to probe the subsidy regime questioned officials of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, the CBN, Enterprise Bank, the Debt Management Office, DMO, Nigeria Port Authorities, NPA, NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy, and many other companies involved in dealing with Nadabo Energy Limited.

The team found that the defendant forged all documents, leading to the subsidy payment of N1.4billion by inflating the number of petroleum products he imported.