N4.5bn subsidy scam: Court freezes Ahmadu Ali’s son’s assets

THE assets of two oil marketers, Seun Ogunbambo and Mamman Ali, the son of the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Ali have been frozen temporarily on the order of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Thursday.
Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an order for an interim forfeiture of assets belonging to the two oil marketers, who are part of many others indicted in the fuel subsidy scam, Ali and Ogunbambo.
EFCC obtained the order from the court through an ex-parte application, which was moved before the court and granted during the sitting on the matter, on Thursday.
The anti-graft commission in its argument before the court at the resumed hearing of the matter alleged that Ogunbambo is being prosecuted for diverse frauds totaling about N4.5 billion but did not give specific details of the worth of all the assets it sought the court’s order to freeze.
The assets that were ordered frozen by the court were mainly bank accounts with an account domiciled with a United Kingdom (UK) based bank and five accounts in five Nigerian banks as well as a landed property at 2 Olamijuyin,  Avenue Parkview Estate in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The account domiciled with the UK based bank was registered in the name of his England-based company, Seatac Petroleum Ltd, where the EFCC alleged he has £1m standing to its credit while the remaining five of the bank accounts bear the names of his companies, Fargo Petroleum Gas Ltd, Arnage Oil & Gas Ltd and Seatac Petroleum Ltd.
Also, the account of one company, Nassaman Oil Service Ltd, belonging to Mamman Ali, was among the assets frozen at the instance of alleged fraud linked with Ogunbambo.
According to the EFCC counsel, Mr Francis Usani, while moving the Exparte Motion for forfeiture before the court,  “the properties and bank accounts set out in the schedule hereto, properties of the persons currently standing trial for conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, obtaining the sums of over N4.5bn by false pretence, forgery and uttering of a documents in Charge Nos  ID/116C/2012, ID/133C/2012 and ID/122C/2012 all pending in this judicial division (Ikeja), be in the interim forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria pending the determination of all the pending proceedings against him.”
There are three of such matters before some courts within that same jurisdiction. In one of the charges involving him, Habila Theck and Fargo is based on allegations of defrauding the Federal Government under the fuel subsidy scheme up to the tune of N976.7m while in the other involving him, Mamman Ali, Christian Taylor as well as  Nasaman Oil Services,  they were accused of defrauding the FG of N4.5bn under the subsidy scheme.