This Day
The ongoing high-level criminal trial of the alleged Petro Union fraud case is set to resume on 15th November at a Federal High Court in Lagos. According to the hearing notice issued recently by the court, the trial court will conduct the matter exclusively over two days in the first instance.
The case, which kicked off in March 2020, was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Petro Union Oil and Gas Limited (Petro Union), its financial consultant and four of its directors – Abayomi Kukoyi (trading under the name of Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates), Prince Kingsley Okpala, Prince ChidiOkpalaeze and Prince Emmanuel Okpalaeze. The defendants alongside the firm are facing a thirteen – count charge on sundry criminal counts bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretences, forgery, and fraud proffered against them by the anti-graft agency on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Previous hearings have revealed what appears to be a blatant attempt by the accused persons to use Nigeria’s justice system to perpetuate and validate corrupt practices.Testimonies from key witnesses for the prosecution have further exposed how the company and its directors allegedly plotted and conspired to defraud the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So far, eight witnesses have testified before the court including a former minister of Finance, a senior officer of the CBN and an ex-Union Bank UK staff.
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