Businesswoman denies ₦57.6m oil fraud charges, begins defence in court

Phillips is standing trial alongside her company, Omritas Energy Limited, on a five-count charge bordering on stealing and issuance of dud cheques to the tune of ₦57.6 million.

The witness, who was led in evidence by his counsel, Akin Olatunji, told the court she was one of the directors and chief operation officer of the company while her late husband, Oluwasegun Phillips was the chairman and the chief executive officer.

She confirmed that she knew the nominal complainant, AYM Shafa Ltd through their Managing Director, Alhaji Umar and they have had successful transactions in the past.

According to her, the MD of AYM Shafa called her on the phone on October 1 2016 that he needed 500, 000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) at the Port Harcourt Refinery and she gave him the price of ₦155 per litre.

The witness said she received the sum of ₦75 million which was paid in ₦10 million tranches, from AYM Shafa’s account into the company’s account on October 5, 2016.

She said: “Upon receiving their payment, we commenced loading immediately and the next day, the MD called me that he spoke to his drivers and they confirmed to him that they had loaded 356,000 litres of the DPK out of the 500,000 litres he paid for.

“He said he would like to purchase an additional 500,000 litres of kerosene, I told him to go ahead and make the payment which he sent another ₦75 million, in ₦10 million instalment.

“However, after four days of continuous loading, we got an announcement that the refinery would be going on strike and as at that time, we had loaded about 640,000 litres out of the one million litres and we were left with the balance of ₦360,000 of the DPK.

“We thought the strike was one or two days affairs but it went on for a while.”

The witness further told the court that she got another call from the MD of AYM Shafa on October 12, 2016, to ask if there was AGO (diesel) which she told him was available at their depot in Akwa-Ibom.

She said the MD told her he would like to also purchase one million litres of AGO and that he would send his representative at the depot, Saidu Illiya to her.

According to her, Illiya came to meet her at the office concerning the AGO and also asked her for his own commission but he told her she had already given an agreed price to his MD.

She said: “On October 17 2016, we got an alert of ₦100 million, in 10 million tranches which was sent from the account of Mr Illiya and we commenced the loading of the AGO that very day.

“We had an understanding with the MD that since we do not know when Port Harcourt Refinery will be calling off the strike, we would like to covert the outstanding 360,000 litres of DPK to AGO to avoid delay and he appreciated it.

“We started loading and I later informed the MD that it seems there is also going to be scarcity of the AGO and that we are still waiting for the ₦60 million balance of the AGO from Mr Illiya to pay our suppliers on time.

“We waited, waited, suppliers were calling from the depot but we could not get the payment from Mr Illiya and I put a call through to the MD who later confirmed that as a matter of fact, Illiya was supposed to pay us ₦105 million and that the company was supposed to balance Illiya ₦55 million but I confirmed to the MD that Illiya only paid ₦100 million.

“Shortly after, the MD called me that the ₦55 million had been paid to Illiya but we did not receive the money from him until the product finished.”

The witness further said she informed the MD after the AGO finished and he promised to call her back but he never did until five days after she called him that she would like to refund the outstanding balance of ₦52 million.

She said that 14 days later, she got a call from their suppliers that there would be a product and she rushed back to Akwa-Ibom only for her mother to call her from Lagos that some policemen from Bauchi State Police Station came to arrest her.

According to her: "I told my mum to give the phone to one of the officers and he confirmed that they came from Bauchi on the order of the MD and one of the representatives of the company was with them.

“So I spoke with the rep of the company and told him that their reps were with me in Akwa-Ibom and what were they doing in my parent’s house with the police.

“He said they came to collect their money and I told him that should not be a problem because this was not our first time of transacting business and there was no time they have used force or anything.

“I tried to persuade him but the rep insisted that their MD has ordered if they can not come with me, they can come with a cheque.”

The businesswoman further said she told the rep that she had spoken with their MD to give her six months for her suppliers to refund the money but the MD insisted the money must be refunded in four months.

She said: “He insisted he wanted a cheque as a sign of agreement but I told him I could not give him because there was no money and the suppliers have not refunded the money.

“He told me to give him a few minutes to speak with their MD on the phone and when he returned back, he said their MD had agreed I do the payment within four months I told him it was not within my power but it was achievable as he should allow me to talk to the suppliers as well.

“Then he suggested that the payment should be divided into four equal instalments but while I was saying ₦52 million, they were saying ₦57 million and at that point, I did not understand where the extra ₦5 million was coming from only for the police officer to confirm to me again that I was paid ₦105 million by Mr Illiya.

“But I told him Mr Illiya paid ₦100 million and he said we can not be arguing that at the moment so they divided the money and the amount was ₦14 million with some extra on it and my late husband wrote the cheque and went to give them at my parent’s house.”

The witness also said that one week after, she received a call from the MD and he aplologised, adding that he acted on the information given by Illiya and also told her to forget the cheques that her suppliers could supply the product whenever it was available.

She continued that the MD should understand there was no product on the ground and she did not know when the product would be available as she was mainly in Akwa-Ibom to recover the money from the suppliers.

According to her, she received a call 14 days after from one Mr Christian Ekemazie, who introduced himself as the head of legal for the complainant’s company and said he would like to see me.

She said: “I went to see Mr Ekemazie immediately after I got back to Lagos and he aplologised on the company’s behalf and also said he would be in charge of the company’s transaction henceforth.

“He also told me they do not want the cheques again and that it was the product that they wanted I also reiterated that there was a scarcity of product at the moment and there was no way I could get it for them.

“After much persistence, I called one of our suppliers that AYM Shafa did not want money but my supplier objected because the price of the product had increased.

“He later promised to give them two trucks from the product they were expecting and due to the experience I had with them, myself and Mr Ekemazie signed an agreement in which I promised to shoulder the logistics if they drove their trucks from the north to Akwa-Ibom and the product was not available.”

EFCC alleged the defendant fraudulently converted and stole the sum of ₦57.6 million property of AYM Shafa Ltd meant for the supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) which she failed to supply

The commission also alleged she issued a Diamond Bank cheque of Nigeria Plc for the sum of ₦14,2 million payable to the company which when presented for payment was dishonoured because no sufficient funds were standing to the credit of the account.

Phillips had pleaded not guilty to the charge, following her re-arraignment on March 23, 2023. Justice Ismail Ijelu adjourned the case until March 27 for continuation of trial.