Oil marketer jailed 10 years, to return N754m to FG

Justice Latee Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Thursday sentenced the Managing Director of Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, Mrs. Ada Ugo-Ngali, to a jail term of 69 years for a fuel subsidy fraud of N754m.

But the jail term would run concurrently for 10 years. The judge also ordered the return of the N754m to the Federal Government.

Justice Okunnu had on January 13, 2017 convicted Ugo-Ngali, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited and its Chairman, Mr. Walter Wagbatsoma, of eight counts pressed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The judge had been unable to pass the sentence on the judgment day as Ugo-Ngali slumped in court after being convicted and just before the judge could pass the sentence.

The convict was subsequently rushed out of the courtroom and taken to Havannah Hospital in Surelere from where she was later moved to the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba.

Ugo-Ngali came to court on Thursday straight from LUTH and on a wheel chair, with plasters on her body.

In passing the sentence, Justice Okunnu rejected the plea of the convict’s lawyer, Mr. Edoka Onyeke, praying that the sentence should be non-custodial in view of his client’s health.

“I have considered the plea of the defence counsel for a non-custodial sentence of the 2nd defendant. I have to say that the request to grant a non-custodial sentence must be rejected and I can only exercise my discretion on the length of time the convict will spend in prison,” Justice Okunnu held.

She subsequently sentenced the convict to a cumulative jail term of 69 years, which would, however, run concurrently for only 10 years.

The judge said the jail term would begin to read from January 13, 2017, when Ugo-Ngali and her accomplices were pronounced convicted.

Wagbatsoma, who is the first convict in the case, is said to be currently under house arrest in the United Kingdom, where he is being held for money laundering, relating to a £12 million National Health Service Trust Fund.

Punch