Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced John Abebe, a younger brother of the late former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, to seven-year imprisonment for forgery and fraud.
Justice Dada handed down the verdict after she found Abebe guilty of a four-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge, however, gave the convict an option of a N50 million fine instead of the custodial sentence to be paid within 30 days.
The EFCC had alleged that Abebe “knowingly forged” a November 30, 1995 letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon (Nigeria) Ltd.
The anti-graft agency had also maintained that the businessman illegally inserted into page 2 of the said letter “the following words: 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 had further claimed that the convict attempted to pervert the course of justice by tendering the forged November 30, 1995 letter “as a fabricated evidence” in court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between Dr John Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited and Statoil Nigeria Limited.
The commission also accused the convict of attempting 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.
The EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that offences violated Section 126 (2) of the Criminal Code Cap C17 and Section 467 of the Criminal Code Cap C17, Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge when he was arraigned on July 26, 2018.
An oil company, Statoil Nigeria Limited, had, on June 22, 2010, accused a convict of forgery in a petition it wrote to the EFCC.
Statoil had alleged that the defendant forged parts of a Net Profit Interest Agreement (NPIA) dated November 30, 1995, which was drafted by British Petroleum (BP).
