Subsidy fraud: Appeal court reserves judgment on marketers

The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by three oil marketers standing trial before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over an alleged  N1.9bn fuel subsidy fraud.

The marketers, Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi and Ontario Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited, are being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos High Court.

They were specifically accused of fraudulently obtaining the sum of N1, 959,377,542.06 from the Petroleum Support Fund for the purported importation of 39.2 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit.

Their appeal followed the dismissal of their application asking Okunnu to hands off the case and dismiss the charges against them on the grounds that the judge did not have jurisdiction.

Okunnu, in her  ruling on October 10, 2014, had held, “It is the nature of the offence that determines the jurisdiction of the court and the charges here are matters that can be tried in the high court.

“When it comes to trial of criminal cases, the line between the federal and state is necessarily blurred.

“Section 251 (3) has not robbed the high court of jurisdiction in this matter. This case is not an admiralty case but a pure criminal matter. Therefore, it is not the pieces of peripheral evidence before the court that determines jurisdiction, but the nature of the law that has been infringed.”

But dissatisfied, the marketers through their counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN) and Mr. J.A. Badejo (SAN), had approached the appellate court seeking to invalidate Okunnu’s ruling.

At the resumed hearing of the appeal on Tuesday, Olanipekun, in his submission, had argued that since the allegation on the face of the charge sheet bordered on importation of fuel, only a Federal High Court was competent to preside over the trial.

But opposing him, the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the lower court that the high court had concurrent jurisdiction to try the matter.

After taking arguments from the parties,  Justice Amina Augie of the appellate court subsequently reserved her ruling.

The accused oil marketers were arraigned before Okunnu on nine counts  bordering on altering, forgery, conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretences.