31 July 2013, Lagos – A prosecution witness and Head of Lagos Zonal Office of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Mr. Victor Chidok, Monday told an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, that the agency did not authenticate documents submitted for payments during the fuel subsidy regime.
The witness, who was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), in the trial of three oil marketers over alleged fuel subsidy infraction, said the agency only relied on documents supplied by marketers.
The oil marketers: Adamu Maula, George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah, were charged before Justice Lateefat Okunnu alongside their firms, Downstream Energy Sources Limited and Rocky Energy Limited, for an alleged N789.6 million fuel subsidy fraud.
But in his testimony, Chidok said the agency only relied on some checklists for confirmation of payments.
He, however, told the court that the rule was changed for stricter measures in December 2011 after daily consumption of fuel in Nigeria rose to 60 million litres.
– The Gaurdian