Oil Marketer Forges Document to Obtain N963.7m

Chidi Onyejekwe, a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of an oil marketer, Rowaye Jubril and his company, Brila Energy Ltd over their alleged fraudulent activities in the fuel subsidy support scheme has told a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja that the oil marketer forged some documents to obtain the N963.7 million subsidy payments.

Onyejekwe,  branch manager of Inspectorate Marine Services Limited, told the court presided over by Justice Lateefat Okunnu that the inspectorate has a system of keeping records in connection to the importation of the petroleum product but there was no records of Brila Energy Ltd’s transactions in their system.

The witness, who is part of  a team of officials of the Inspectorate Marine Services Limited that investigated the allegation of  fraud in the fuel subsidy regime further stated while been led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, Seidu Atteh that his signatures never appeared in  any of the documents issued to the marketer.

However, the defence counsel, Richard Oluyede during cross examination contradicted the witness by showing him some documents signed by the inspectorate and issued to his clients.

The documents allegedly signed by the officials of the inspectorate include, a certificate of cargo transfer  and a certificate of origin which according to the lawyer were appropriately issued and stamped by the directorate and could not be forged.

The prosecuting counsel Mr Atteh has informed the court that the EFCC will be filing additional proof of evidence against the oil marketer and his company.

According to the lawyer the additional proof to be filed and served on the parties before the next adjourned date will help the prosecution to prove its case against the marketer.

Further hearing on the  matter has been fixed for the 13th of June.

It will be recalled that another prosecution witness, Mr Lawal Ahmed had at the last adjourned date told the court that  Jubril did not import the petroleum products for which he obtained the subsidy payment.

Ahmed  was part of the special team set up by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the fuel subsidy fraud.

The witness alleged that Jubril had obtained the money from the Federal Government of Nigeria for the purported importation of 13,500 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

According to the witness, it was discovered during investigations that Brila Energy had forged some documents which were presented to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to obtain the payment.

“The documents included Gasoline Analysis and Certificate of Quantity of the Mother Vessel, MT Overseas Lima, which was said to have been issued by Saybolt Nigeria Ltd.

“It also included Certificate of Quantity and Cargo Manifest of the Daughter Vessel, MT Defilna which was purportedly issued by Inspectorate Marine Services Ltd,” he said.

According to him, both companies later told the EFCC that the documents did not emanate from them.

He further stated that Llyod Lister, an agency which monitors the movement of international vessels, also confirmed that MT Overseas Lima was in Venezuela when the defendant claimed the vessel was being discharged in off-shore Cotonou.

He said:”The products were discharged but not imported into the country as claimed by the defendant.

“The inspectorate companies which were purportedly involved in the ship to ship transfer have denied ever participating in the transaction.” He added.