The federal government will not stop the trial of some of the oil marketers indicted by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee set up to investigate fuel subsidy claims by the marketers currently standing trial in the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
There are speculations that the federal government, through the attorney-general of the federation and? minister of justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), may stop the last four oil marketers the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee added to the list of indicted marketers, as their names are yet to be forwarded to the commission for arraignment. It is believed they have friends in high places.
The four oil marketers – Top Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Tonique Oil Services, Sifax Oil and Gas Company and Pinnacle Contractors Ltd – have allegedly defrauded the nation to the tune of N7.73 billion
But the EFCC prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), and the EFCC’s head of media & publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, had, in a separate interviews with LEADERSHIP, said the federal government had no plan to discontinue with the trial of any of the 25 oil marketing companies so far indicted by the Aig-Imoukhuede committee. “The federal government cannot, in the face of the gravity of indictment leveled against the oil marketers, turn around to stop their trial,” Jacobs said, contending that the trial was only adjourned until the courts, currently on holiday, resume in a week or two.
On the application of plea bargain concept or negotiating to pay back the loot, Jacobs said such must still pass through the court for adjudication.
“Do you know what nolle prosecui means? It means “stop the trial”. How do you expect the federal government to stop the trial of any of these oil marketers with the weight of evidence proffered against them in the Aig-Imoukhuede committee’s report?,” he asked.
Uwujaren said: “None of the 25 oil marketers already indicted by the Aig-Imoukhuede committee would be left out. The courts have only adjourned to later dates for continuation of their trials. You need to wait till these dates to see if the federal government had stopped their trials.’’.?
Abuja-based lawyer Alasa Ismaila? recalled that during ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure, such matters were treated as the PDP’s family affair. “Besides, the AGF Adoke had, as at February 2011, granted administrative reprieve or nolle prosequi to several multinational companies and individuals such as Halliburton, Siemens and Julius Berger? over their trials for bribing our public officials in order to obtain or retain business in Nigeria. This was on the pretext that our corporate criminal liability law is inadequate to deal with these multinational companies,” Alasa said.