A special offences court in Ikeja, Lagos state, has convicted and sentenced Mamman Ali, son of Ahmadu Ali, former chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to 14 years imprisonment over N2.2 billion oil subsidy fraud.
Christian Taylor, an oil marketer, was sentenced alongside Ali to 14 years imprisonment.
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Mamman and Taylor were initially arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 49-count charge, which included conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences, obtaining money by false pretences, forgery, and the use of false documents — offences that contravene the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
They were accused of obtaining the sum of N1,480,074,125.61 from the federal government 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).
They were initially standing trial before Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos state high court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
However, after the judge withdrew from the suit, the case was reassigned to Mojisola Dada, judge of a Lagos special offences court.
They were later re-arraigned alongside on an amended 57-count charge. The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges preferred against them.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Seiduh Atteh, presented witnesses and tendered documents, which were admitted by the court, to prove its case against the defendants.
Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Dada found the evidence presented by the prosecution compelling and held that the actions of the defendants not only defrauded the government, but also “undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s oil subsidy programme”.
The judge sentenced the defendants to 14 years imprisonment each and also ordered the forfeiture of identified assets and accounts linked to the crime.
The judge also issued a warrant for the arrest of Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Olabisi Abdul Afeez, two other suspects still at large.
The Cable
