LAGOS, NIGERIA — The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), today commenced the prosecution of Petro Union Oil and Gas Company Limited.
The company stands accused of a staggering multi-billion pound fraud scheme involving the alleged forgery of a Barclays Bank cheque valued at £2,556,000,000.00 (Two Billion, Five Hundred and Fifty-Six Million Pounds).
The arraignment, which took place before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Ayokunle Faji, saw the day start with a procedural clash between the prosecution and the defence.
Adebiisi Adeniyi, counsel representing the Federal Government, informed the presiding judge of a seven-count amended charge pending before the court.
He moved for the charges to be read so the defendant could enter a plea. However, the defence counsel, Chris Obiaka, raised a stiff objection.
Obiaka argued that the current charge was irregular, noting that a second further amended charge previously before the court had listed five defendants.
The present charge, he pointed out, listed only Petro Union Oil and Gas Company Limited.
Obiaka contended that by amending the charge to include only the company, the other four defendants, who were part of the previous iteration of the case, ought to have been formally discharged by the court.
He argued that the prosecution's method of streamlining the case was legally flawed.
Responding to the objection, the prosecution counsel, Adeniyi, clarified that the current filing is purely a new charge.
He further explained that the other four defendants mentioned by the defence are not being set free, but are instead being prosecuted in a separate matter before another Federal High Court in Abuja.
After weighing the arguments, the court ruled in favour of the prosecution, dismissing the defence’s objection. The registrar was directed to read the seven-count charge to the representative of Petro Union.
Upon the reading of the charge, the court entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the oil company.
Following the plea, the court adjourned the matter to February 16, 17, and 18 for the commencement of the full trial.
The charge sheet paints a picture of an audacious financial crime that allegedly began in late 1994 and continued with various attempts to cash in on forged documents as recently as 2012.
At the heart of the case is a Barclays Bank cheque dated December 29, 1994. The EFCC alleged that Petro Union, alongside its then-Chairman and CEO, Prince Isaac Okpalaeze (now deceased), knowingly procured and forged the cheque in the sum of £2,556,000,000.00.
The cheque was made payable to Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates, with the prosecution claiming that the defendants presented the cheque under the false pretence that the funds were intended for foreign investment in the construction of three petrochemical complexes in Nigeria.
The anti-graft agency maintained that the defendants knew the cheque was unlawfully procured and false.
In Count 4, the prosecution alleged that around December 1994, the company attempted to obtain money by false pretence by presenting the forged £2.5 billion cheque to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
This act is cited as an attempt to commit a felony contrary to the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
Perhaps the most striking allegations involve the company's persistence. According to the EFCC, between 2006 and 2012, Petro Union allegedly attempted to defraud the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In Count 5, the prosecution details an attempt to obtain £2,159,221,313.54 (over Two Billion Pounds) from the CBN as proceeds of the 1994 Barclays cheque.
The EFCC stated that the company allegedly made these demands despite knowing that the original cheque had already been collected or seized by the EFCC as far back as December 19, 2005.
Counts 6 and 7 alleged that the company conspired to defraud both the CBN and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc by repeatedly demanding the full £2.5 billion sum, knowing the underlying documents were fraudulent.
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