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EFCC to Arraign Subsidy Thieves Today, Partners Interpol on Flight Risk suspects

By on July 24, 2012

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to begin to arraign fuel subsidy thieves in Lagos today. In all directors representing seven companies including Eterna Oil and Nasaman Oil Services Plc will have charges filed against them before a Lagos High Court today.

Businessnews learned that the companies and their directors will be charged before Justice Samuel Candid-Johnson, Justice Lawal Akapo, Justice Habeeb Abiru, Justice Adeniyo Onibajo and Justice Dotun Adefope-Okojie, all selected by Lagos  Chief Judge, Justice Adeyoola Phillips.

The EFCC is said to have chose Lagos for the prosecution of the marketers due to the fact that the crimes occurred at Lagos ports, and furthermore most of the companies are registered with business addresses in Lagos.

The EFCC in the course of their investigation is said to have identified marketers who intentionally collected subsidies fraudulently from government.

The EFCC uncovered the fraudsters through an audit check which revealed that the bill of ladings marketers submitted to their offshore banks for which their Letters of Credit (LC) were opened with Nigerian banks were quite different from the bill of ladings submitted to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for subsidy claims.
This alerted the EFCC to the Fraud and when they approached the marketers, they admitted to the shady practices.

The EFCC is also said to be on the verge of prosecuting an additional set of subsidy thieves in the form of petroleum products marketers who claimed subsidy on fuel imported onboard ghost vessels. Ghost vessels are decommissioned ships that are no longer operational and could not have possibly been used to import any cargo into the country.

According to a source close to the investigation, “As the EFCC concludes its investigation on other marketers, it recognizes that some of the marketers are flight risks due to their ownership of private jets.

“As such the EFCC has partnered Interpol and State Security Services Agents in order to ensure that none of these marketers escape the long arm of the law.”