Subsidy Fraud: Prosecution Witness Could not Identify Defendants

A staff of the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Mamman Nasir Alli, son of Ahmadu Alli, a former of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman; and three others yesterday denied knowing the three human defendants in the case.
At the resumed hearing of the matter before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of an Ikeja High Court yesterday, Victor Sanusi told the court that he only knew the company, Nasaman Oil and Gas which is the first defendant in the case.
The Economic and Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Nasaman Oil and Gas, Alli, Christian Taylor and Seun Ogunbambo to court for allegedly obtaining N4.4 billion from the Federal Government under false pretext.
The EFCC alleged that the sum was fraudulently obtained as subsidy payments from the Petroleum Support Fund for the purported importation of 30.5million litres of petrol from SEATAC Petroleum Limited of British Virgin Islands.
Sanusi, who was being led in evidence by the EFCC’s counsel, Francis Usani, told the court that it was true that Nasaman Oil and Gas applied and was given six allocations of petrol import, it only participated in four.
He explained that when his agency grants permit to a marketer to import fuel, they are also expected to get another one from the Department of Petroleum Resources.
He said the marketer would then be required to obtain a letter of credit from a bank or provide bill for collection (a document stating the willingness of the marketer to sell the product).
He however said the bill for collection was no longer accepted because of the issue of transparency on the part of marketers.