EFCC RELEASE: How Oil Marketer Defrauded FG

An investigative officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, has told a Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja, how an oil marketer, Rowaye Jubril, and his company, Brila Energy Ltd, collected money from the Federal Government’s petroleum support fund without supplying fuel.
Testifying at the resumed sitting of the court in the case yesterday before Justice Lateefat Okunnu, Mohammed claimed that Jubril did not import the petroleum product for which he collected N963.7 million subsidy payment from the Federal Government.
The EFCC has dragged Jubril and his company; Brila Energy Ltd to court for allegedly obtaining money for the purported importation of 13,500 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
While being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Seidu Atteh, the witness told the court that he was part of the special team which investigated the fraud in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme.
According to Mohammed, the investigations carried out by his team discovered that Jubril did not import the products as he had claimed to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
He said the defendant actually obtained the products from other vessels within Nigeria, which did not permit him to collect any subsidy from the government.
“The defendant claimed that there was a ship-to-ship transfer of the product between the mother vessel, MT Overseas Lima and the first daughter vessel, MT Delphina.
“According to him, the said transfer took place between January 26 and 27, 2011 at off-shore Cotonou in Benin Republic.
“However, our investigations showed that MT Overseas Lima was not in West African coast during that period hence, it was impossible for the transfer to have taken place,” Abdullahi told the court.
He said with the discovery, the EFCC wrote to Daddo Maritime, owners of the second daughter vessel, MT Danni 1, which brought the 13,000 metric tonnes of PMS to Obat Jetty in Lagos.
He said the company’s documents showed that the defendant used MT Danni to obtain the products from various ships.
While also being cross-examined by Jubril’s counsel, Mr. Kola Kolade, the EFCC witness insisted that the subsidy payment was fraudulently obtained. Further trial continues today.
Source: The Sun