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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday, October 18, dismissed the criminal charge/suit brought it by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) against Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and his company, Capital Oil and Gas Limited.
Recall that Ubah, the senator representing Anambra South in the upper legislative chamber, and his company, Capital Oil were dragged to the court in 2019 for alleged false claims and a debt of N135 billion, and the court on June 13, 2023, directed that a criminal summons be issued to the Nnewi-born senator and his company. The order was given on an 8-count charge bordering on his alleged indebtedness to AMCON.
According to the debt-recovery agency, Ubah and Capital Oil and Gas allegedly conspired to make false claims in relation to the actual values of certain assets transferred to AMCON under a consent judgment he and his company made with AMCON.
The Senator, who is serving his term in office as a senator of the federal Republic, and his company, Capital Oil and Gas were also alleged to have obstructed AMCON in the realisation of part of his outstanding debt of N135 billion by frustrating the sale of a property at Banana Island, Lagos.
At the hearing
counsel to AMCON, Oluwaseun Onabowu, who gave an oral application to withdraw the suit told the court that AMCON had agreed to withdraw the case against the senator after a consent judgment was reached in a sister case before a Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Tterritory (FCT), Abuja. He urged the court to strike out the charge filed against the defendants.
Affirming the position of AMCON, Ifeoma Esom, lawyer to Ubah and Capital Oil, confirmed to the court that agreements have been reached with the complainant. Subsequently, Justice Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, struck out the charge.
Efforts to get AMCON’s Head, Corporate Communications Departmemt, Jude Nwauzor, didn’t yield result, as he did not answer calls and messages to him to confirm the withdrawal of the case.
