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Crime & Punishment of Friday, 14 February 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

£2.55b Barclays Bank scam: Four directors in EFCC net

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Four directors of Petro Union Oil and Gas Limited have been remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the directive of a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The four directors were: Abayomi Kukoyi (Trading under the name and style of Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates), Prince Kingsley Okpala, Prince Chidi Okpalaeze, and Prince Emmanuel Okpalaeze.

They were remanded for alleged involvement in a £2.556 billion scam.

They were accused of, among others, forging a Barclays Bank cheque and attempting to use it to obtain £2.556 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in three fake refineries scam.

Each defendant pleaded not guilty.

The EFCC alleged that the four directors and the oil firm and as well as Prince Isaac Okpala (now deceased) committed the offenses between 1994 and 2007.

The court heard that they fraudulently procured a Barclays Bank cheque of £2.556 bn under the pretext that they wanted to build three petrochemical refinery complexes in Nigeria.

However, EFCC counsel Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) prayed the court to remand the men in Nigerian Correctional Services custody, pending trial.