The absence of the defence counsel in a
Subsidy fraud case involving an oil company, Nadibo Energy and its boss, Abubakar Peters, prevented the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa, from appearing before an Ikeja High court.
Bawa was in court on Tuesday where he appeared before an Ikeja High Court to testify as a key prosecution witness in the case of alleged N1.4 billion oil subsidy fraud.
Peters has been arraigned before the court by the EFCC almost six years back and the case has suffered some set backs. He and his company were accused of obtaining N1.4 billion from the Federal Government with forged documents as oil subsidy.
Before his elevation as the EFCC chairman and the chief executive officer, Bawa led the investigation team as an operative of the commission, where (defendant) Peter was accused of forging documents.
After the investigation, the defendants were accused of inflating the figure of the quantity of petrol purportedly supplied to the Federal Government to 14,000 metric tonnes.
When the matter came up before the court, the prosecution counsel, Mr Seidu Atteh, indicated his interest to go on with the case, informing the court that he has his witness (Bawa) in court. However, trial could not go on since the defendants’ counsel was absent in court.
The trial judge, Justice Sedotan, subsequently adjourned the case till, September 22, (tomorrow) with the condition that the defendants will defend themselves unless their lawyer is around and will not entertain any adjournment.
