EFCC chairman, Bawa testifies in N1.4bn oil subsidy fraud trial

Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC appeared before an Ikeja High Court in Lagos today, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, to give evidence in an N1.4 billion fraud trial involving an oil company, Nadabo Energy.

Vanguard reports that Bawa before his confirmation as EFCC chairman had earlier appeared before the court last year as a prosecution witness.

The EFCC had accused Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy of allegedly using forged documents to obtain N1,464,961,978.24 from the Federal Government as oil subsidy after allegedly inflating the quantity of premium motor spirit, PMS purportedly supplied to 14,000M, The Vanguard reports.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the prosecution’s fraud charge.

Bawa in his previous testimony had told the court that based on investigation carried out on the defendant’s dealings with Staco Insurance Company, “the Certificate of marine insurance used by the defendant for the transaction in question was forged.”

The matter was adjourned by Justice Balogun to February 10, 16, 23 and March 9, 2021 for the continuation of trial.

Bawa is currently giving more evidence in the trial as at the time of filing this report.