Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos High Court on Thursday December 6, 2012 refused to admit Oluwaseun Ogunbambo to bail and ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending conclusion of his trial.
Ogunbambo, who was recently re-arraigned alongside Mamman Nasir Ali and Christian Taylor for their alleged role in a two billion, two hundred and ninety eight naira, ninety seven kobo fuel subsidy scam was denied bail by the court on the grounds of criminal antecedents and the numerous cases pending against him. Justice Onigbanjo also cited the identify problem associated with the defendant.
Counsel to EFCC, Francis Usani had told the court that Ogunbambo’s travelling document had been confiscated by the EFCC in the past but that the defendant was still able to travel abroad after procuring another travelling document and using a different name. He further informed the court that Ogunbambo is equally the prime suspect in several other cases still under investigation.
In a related development, the trial of Ogunbambo, Habila Theck and Fargo Petroleum and Gas in another charge of fraudulently obtaining subsidy payment under false pretence preferred against them by the Commission continued before Justice Onigbanjo with prosecution witness, Abdul Rasheed Bawa, an operative of the EFCC, giving evidence.
He told the court that during investigation, the Commission wrote to the Nigeria Port Authority, to furnish it with information regarding the vessels that brought in petroleum products from 2006 – 2011. He said analysis of the information supplied by NPA showed that vessels which were purportedly used for the transactions, MT Diplomat never came to Lagos or Port Harcourt during the period as claimed in the transaction. He said the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, was similarly asked to provide details of all vessels that came to Nigeria with Premium Motor Spirit from 2006 and 2011. “The response we got from NIMASA showed that the vessel indicated in the transaction, MT Diplomat did not come to Nigeria in the said period”, he said.