Court adjourns trial of Nadabo Energy chief for alleged N1.4bn fraud till March 29

Justice C.A. Balogun of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on Tuesday adjourned till March 29 the trial of the Chairman of Nadabo Energy Limited, Abubakar Ali Peters, for alleged N1.4billion fraud.

The judge adjourned the matter after the counsel for the defendant, E.O. Isiramen, told the court that the defence was not ready to continue with the cross-examination of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.

Bawa is the fifth prosecution witness in the case.

The commission arraigned Abubakar and his company on a 27-count charge of fraud.

READ ALSO: Court fixes date to rule on admissibility of evidence against Nadabo Energy in alleged N1.4bn oil subsidy fraud

The defendant was accused of using forged documents to obtain the sum of N1,464,961,978.24 from the Federal Government as oil subsidy after allegedly inflating the quantity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) purportedly imported and supplied by the company.

Isiramen had on December 20, 2021, begun the cross-examination of the witness.

He further cross-examined the EFCC chief on January 25.

However, at Tuesday’s proceedings, the defence counsel told the court that he would not be able to continue with the witness cross-examination.

“We are not ready to continue,” he said.

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