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Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Nigeria’s fuel subsidy fraud scandal has led to one of the country’s billionaires being convicted of fraud in a Lagos court. Walter Wagbatsoma, along with Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi and Ontario Oil and Gas were convicted on an eight-count amended charge of fuel subsidy fraud. The minimum sentence for the crime is seven years.
Ugo-Nnadi, who is co-owner of Ontario Oil and Gas along with Wagbatsoma, fainted when the judge began to read the sentence for her conviction. Wagbatsoma is currently under house arrest in the UK where he is accused of money laundering.
Babafemi Fakuade, an employee of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, was also charged with fraud but he was acquitted by the court.
The defendants were first arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2012 for fraud, forgery, and conspiracy amounting to N1.9 billion in the fuel subsidy fraud scheme.They were later re-arraigned in 2013 after the trial judge was elevated to the Court of Appeal, and then again in 2016 on an eight-count amended charge.
They had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
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