By ThePreview Team

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned four defendants for an alleged N2 billion oil fraud at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos.

The anti-graft agency in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Saturday said the accused appeared before a trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, on Friday.

The defendants Babatunde Olukunle Oyefolu, Babayemi Isaac Olatunde, Ezekiel Abaki, and Plural Oil Marketing Limited, face charges of conspiracy, theft, and possession of stolen property.

“The defendants were arraigned on a four-count charge of alleged conspiracy, theft, and possession of stolen property involving 894,111 litres of base oil valued at N2,000,000,000 (Two Billion Naira),” the statement said.

In one of the counts, EFCC stated that the defendants, “sometime in 2021 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired among yourselves to unlawfully convert 894,111 litres of base oil, property in which Providus Bank holds a special interest.”

Another count alleged that “they dishonestly retained in Plural Oil Marketing Limited’s Keystone Bank account the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira), being funds fraudulently converted.”

The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charges preferred against them, according to the statement.

Following their pleas, prosecution counsel, Z. B. Atiku, asked for a trial date and also urged the court to remand the defendants in a Correctional facility pending trial.

However, defence counsel, Suleiman Usman, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that he had filed bail applications on behalf of the defendants and that the applications had been duly served on the prosecution.

He also urged the court to grant the defendants bail on liberal terms and undertook to ensure their presence at subsequent proceedings.

After listening to both parties, Justice Oshodi granted the defendants bail in the sum of N20 million each, with one surety in like sum.

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In the ruling, the court held that the surety is required to provide evidence of means of livelihood.

The court further ordered the second defendant to deposit his international passport with the court, while the third defendant was ordered to submit a valid passport and sign an undertaking not to travel outside Nigeria during the pendency of the trial.

The judge also directed the prosecution to notify the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

Justice Oshodi granted the defendants interim bail pending the perfection of their bail conditions, and ordered their counsel to produce them in court on the next adjourned date.

The matter was adjourned till 29 April for the commencement of trial.