$1.6bn Fraud: Court Frees Omokore, Convicts 2 Others

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has discharged and acquitted businessman, Jide Omokore, and his firms, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, over alleged $1.6 billion fraud.

They were charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly diverting the money.

Omokore, his firms and one Kola Akanni Aluko (now at large), were accused by the anti-graft agency of diverting the said funds, which it claimed formed part of proceeds of the sale of petroleum products belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) entered with the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The court in its judgment on Tuesday, convicted a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Victor Briggs, and ex-Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, NNPC, Abiye Membere, for corruption.

The duo, though discharged and acquitted on other charges against them, was convicted for accepting gifts of Mercedes Benz and Range Rover cars from Omokore.

Justice Dimgba ordered that Briggs and Membere be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending their sentencing scheduled for February 8, 2023.