EFCC docks oil and gas worker for N97m fraud

 Efe Egube

The EFCC Lagos Zonal office on Thursday,  June 28, 2018, arraigned one Efe Egube and his firm, Oceanic Energy Services Limited, before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja , Lagos on a two-count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N97, 020, 000.00.

The defendant was said to have fraudulently obtained a loan facility from Enterprise Bank( also known as Heritage Bank), with forged documents.

One of the counts reads: "That you, Efe Egube, Oceanic Energy Services Limited, on or about the 10th day of August, 2013 at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N97, 020, 000.00 (Ninety-seven Million and Twenty Thousand Naira) from Enterprise Bank (a.k.a. Heritage Bank) by falsely representing that the money was the cost of facilitating a Local Purchase Order (LPO) contract from Dangote Industries Limited, which representation you knew to be false."

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him. In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Bilikisu Buhari, asked the court for a trial date and prayed that the defendant be remanded in prison custody.

The defence counsel, E.D. Onyeke, informed the court that he had filed and served the prosecution summons for bail on behalf of his client. He also prayed the court to grant his client bail in liberal terms. However, Buhari told the court that the defendant was a flight-risk, adding that he once jumped an administrative bail granted him by the Commission.

After listening to both counsels, Justice Taiwo granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10million, with two sureties in like sum.