The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa has appeared before Justice Sedoton Ogunsanya at the Ikeja High Court in Lagos on Tuesday, to testify as the lead prosecution witness in a case of alleged fraud on oil subsidies of 1.4 billion naira.
EFCC is pursuing a lawsuit against Nadabo Energy and its president, Abubakar Peters for allegedly receiving 1.4 billion naira from the federal government as an oil subsidy payment using fake documents in 2015.
The defendants were also accused of inflating the amount of petrol supplied to the federal government by 14,000 tonnes.
Mr Bawa investigated the case before assuming the EFCC chairman position.
At the trial yesterday, EFCC chief prosecutor Seidu Atteh told the court that he was ready to proceed with the questioning of Mr Bawa.
However, the trial was stopped due to the defendant’s lawyer’s absence.
The defendant, Abubakar told the court that his lawyer had to fly to Lagos but it was unclear why he was not in court, adding that he had called to inform his lawyer about the court session, but his phone was off.
In response to the judge’s question, Abubakar expressed hope that his lawyer would appear in court today.
Judge Sedotan, therefore, adjourned the case until Wednesday and warned that the defendants will defend themselves if their attorneys do not appear in court.
Afterwards, the EFCC boss told reporters that he was simply dehydrated when he collapsed at the Presidential Villa in Abuja during a public event last week.
