Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court in
Ikeja on Thursday sentenced the Managing Director of Ontario Oil and Gas
Limited, Mrs. Ada Ugo-Ngali, to a jail term of 10 years for a fuel subsidy
fraud of N754m.
The judge ordered the refund of the N754m to the
Federal
Government
Justice Okunnu had on January 13, 2017 convicted Ugo-Ngali, Ontario Oil and Gas
Limited and its Chairman, Mr. Walter Wagbatsoma of eight counts pressed against
them by the Economic and Financial Crimes.
The judge had been unable to pass
the sentence on the judgment day as Ugo-Ngali slumped in court after being
convicted and just before the judge could pass the sentence.
The convict was subsequently
rushed out of the courtroom and and taken to Havannah hospital in Surelere from
where she was later moved to the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba.
Ngo-Ngali came to court on
Thursday straight from LUTH and on a wheel chair, with plasters on her body.
In passing the sentence, Justice
Okunnu rejected the plea of the convict’s lawyer, Mr. Edoka Onyeke, praying that
the sentence should be non-custodian in view of his client’s health.
“I have considered the plea of
the defence counsel for non-custodian sentence of the 2nd defendant. I have to
say that the request to grant a non-custodian sentence must be rejected and I
can only exercise my discretion on the length of time the convict will spend in
prison,” Justice Okunnu held.
She subsequently sentenced the
convict to a cumulative jail term of 69 years, which would, however, run
concurrently for only 10 years.
The judge said the jail term
would begin to read from January 13, 2017, when Ngo-Ngali and her accomplices
were pronounced convicted.
Wagbatsoma, who is the first
convict in the case, is said to be currently under house arrest in the United
Kingdom, where he is being held for money laundering, relating to a £12m
National Health Service Trust fraud.
Drama ensued soon after Ngo-Ngali was sentenced as the
convict’s relatives and prison officials pounced on the official photographer
of the EFCC, for attempting to take Ngo-Ngali’s shots as she was being wheeled
towards the waiting prison van.
The EFCC had on August 1, 2013
arraigned the Ngo-Ngali, Wagbatsoma and their company, accusing them of
defrauding the Federal Government of N1.9bn, which they fraudulently obtained
as subsidy sum for purportedly importing Premium Motor Spirit into the country.
Also charged with the three
convicts was an official of the Petroleum Products Price and Regulatory Agency,
Mr. Babafemi Fakuade, who was, however, discharged and acquitted by the judge
on January 13.
In finding Wagbatsoma and
Ngo-Ngali guilty, Justice Okunnu held, “The defendants defrauded the Federal
Government of N340m in the third quarter of 2010 and N414m in the fourth
quarter of 2010.
“According to a forensic audit by
Akintola Williams Delloitte, the defendants did not remit an excess of N754m to
the Federal Government.
“The first defendant knowingly
received the sum in excess of what the fourth defendant (Ontario Oil and Gas
Limited) was entitled to.
“In my opinion, he contributed to
the false pretence.”
Justice Okunnu further held, “The
second defendant is the MD of the company, she is the alter – ego of the fourth
defendant and was aware of the going ons of the company.
..Punch
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