A Lagos state special offences court in Ikeja has sentenced
John Abebe, a businessman, to seven years in prison for forging a document
belonging to an oil company.
Mojisola Dada, the judge who gave the ruling on Saturday,
gave an option of a fine of N50 million to be paid within 30 days in lieu of
imprisonment.
In 2018, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
arraigned Abebe, a younger brother of the late Stella Obasanjo, former first
lady, on four counts.
The EFCC, in the charges, claimed that Abebe “knowingly
forged” a November 30, 1995, letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited
to Inducon (Nigeria) Ltd.
The anti-graft agency also claimed that the businessman
illegally inserted into page 2 of the said letter that: “Also note that the
‘Buy-Out Option’ only applies to the pre-production stage of the NPIA. The $4m
buy-out is thus irrelevant from production of Oil in any of our fields.”
The EFCC said Abebe also attempted to pervert the course of
justice by tendering the allegedly forged November 30, 1995 letter “as
fabricated evidence” in court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between John
Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited, and Statoil Nigeria Limited.
It accused him of making an attempt to mislead the court by
using fabricated evidence contrary to section 120 (2) of the Criminal Code Cap
C17, Law of Lagos state of Nigeria 2003.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com