There was pandemonium at an Ikeja, Lagos State High Court on Friday as Ada Ugo-Ngali, the Managing Director of Ontario Oil and Gas Limited and the co-defendant of Walter Wagbatsoma, the Chairman of the company, standing trial for N1.9 billion oil subsidy fraud, collapsed in the dock.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ugo-Ngadi fainted as Justice Lateefat Okunnu was about to sentence her after finding her guilty of N1.9 billion oil subsidy fraud.
Okunnu immediately adjourned the sentencing to January 16.
“Medical personnel should be called to aid the co-defendant; sentencing is hereby adjourned to Monday, January 16, 2017 when she will be in a better state of health,” she ruled.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ugo-Ngadi was seen panting and her lawyers were frantically calling for medical personnel and an ambulance to take her to the hospital.
She was eventually carried out of the court by her lawyers and loved ones into a black jeep, which sped out of the court premises to an undisclosed hospital in the metropolis.
Earlier during Friday’s proceedings, Justice Okunnu found Wagbatsoma and Ugo-Ngadi guilty of an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretences, forgery and uttering brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
NAN reports that their conviction is the first of its kind since the prosecution of oil subsidy fraud charges began in 2012.
Wagbatsoma was absent in court as he is currently being held in the United Kingdom on charges relating to a 12 million pounds National Health Insurance Scheme Trust Fund fraud.
They were arraigned at an Ikeja High Court on August 1, 2013 alongside Babafemi Fakuade and their company, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited.
Fakuade, an official of the Petroleum Products Price and Regulatory Agency, was acquitted of the charges.
Okunnu, while reading the judgment, noted that the convicts defrauded the Federal Government of N754 million in oil subsidy transactions totalling N1.7 billion.
She said: “The defendants defrauded the Federal Government of N340 million in the third quarter of 2010 and N414 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.
“According to a forensic audit by Akintola Williams Delloitte, the defendants did not remit an excess of N754 million to the Federal Government.”
Pronouncing Wagbatsoma guilty, the judge said: “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.”
On Ugo-Ngadi, she said: “The second defendant is the MD of the company, she is the alter-ego of the fourth defendant and was aware of the goings on of the company.
“I find it easy to find a meeting of minds to defraud the Federal Government, the defendants were well aware of the forgery of the Shore Quantity Certificate.
“The Federal Government suffered prejudice as a result of the certificate forgery.
“In the event, I find the first, second and third defendants guilty of the offence of forgery.
“There was a meeting of minds to pull off such a crime.”
While acquitting Fakuade, Okunnu said: “The case before the third defendant is that he helped in forging the Shore Quality Certificate, what I see before me is that he only signed the document while acting in his capacity as an PPRA official.
“It is not right in criminal cases to infer guilt without concrete evidence, there is no proof that he was aware that the documents were false.
“The prosecution has not been able to prove the case of forgery against the third defendant.”
In holding Wagbatsoma, Ugo-Ngadi and Ontario Oil liable for the offences, Okunnu also ruled: “I find the allegations of obtaining by false pretences in relation to the first, second and fourth defendants to be true.
“They were all `particeps criminis’ and uttered the document, they are, therefore, guilty of the offences in the amended charge.”
Lawyer to Fakuade, B.A. Ayeni, in an emotion-laden speech, thanked Okunnu for acquitting his client.
Ayeni said: “I thank Your Lordship for acquitting the third defendant.”
In his allocutus, counsel to Ugo-Ngadi, E.A. Onyeke, had told the judge to temper justice with mercy.
Onyeke said: “The second defendant has health challenges, in the course of the trial, she has had cause to visit doctors abroad to take care of her health issues as the healthcare system in Nigeria.
“A custodial sentence will damage her health because of the nature of our prison system.
“She is a mother of very young children and her husband also had health challenges and there will be no one to adequately take care of the children.
“As the MD, she is an employer of labour whose workers depend on her managerial abilities, her workers will suffer more than necessary especially in this period of recession.”
Onyeke noted that Ontario Oil and Gas Limited had already restituted the Federal Government.
He said: “The Federal Government and the defendants have had meetings, which has led to the refund of the sum of N754 million.
“The government that brought them to court knows the value of their policies and continue to do business with them.
“It is our humble plea that court grants her a custodial sentence starting from the day she was arraigned.”
Responding, the counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacob (SAN), requested for a stiff sentence.
Jacob said: “The minimum sentence of the offences for which the convicts have been convicted is seven years.
“Claims that the Federal Government had been restituted are not to my knowledge, there must be an order of restitution to the victim given by the court.
“A custodial sentence will be sending a wrong signal to the public that the rich cannot go to prison and will be a hindrance to our fight against corruption.
“There is also no medical report regarding the alleged ill health of the defendant and the prison has medical facilities, if they can provide for the poor, they can provide for the rich.
“There is no evidence that she has young children or is a nursing mother before the court, if she is a nursing mother, there are facilities in the prison that cater to nursing mothers.
“Regarding the Federal Government transacting business with Ontario Oil and Gas, the status of the company was unknown.
“The government was transacting business with them on the presumption of innocence and now that they are no longer innocent, they must face the consequences of their act.”
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