Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, one of the notorious oil marketers currently standing trial for swindling Nigerians of several billions of naira in fuel fraudulent fuel subsidy claims, has accused the trial judge, Adeniyi Onigbanjo, of prejudice and bias. In a petition, Mr. Ogunbambo also alleged that Justice Onigbanjo was determined to convict him, citing an unfavorable trend in his ongoing
trial.
Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, one of the notorious oil marketers currently standing trial for swindling Nigerians of several billions of naira in fuel fraudulent fuel subsidy claims, has accused the trial judge, Adeniyi Onigbanjo, of prejudice and bias. In a petition, Mr. Ogunbambo also alleged that Justice Onigbanjo was determined to convict him, citing an unfavorable trend in his ongoing
trial.
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Mr. Ogunbambo remarked that other accused oil marketers were granted bail, whilst his bail application was denied. He added that an undisclosed “major oil marketer” was sponsoring his legal ordeal at the Lagos State High Court.
The suspect’s allegations are contained in a petition to the Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayo Philips. A copy of the complaint was obtained by Saharareporters.
In the petition, the accused serial fraudster sought a transfer of his case to another judge. He noted that his case was drawing to a close and that the signals suggested that he would end up in jail.
“I write this letter to seek transfer of the criminal proceedings brought against me by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from Hon. Justice S. A. Onigbanjo of the Ikeja Division of Lagos High Court to any other judge of the High Court,” the petitioner wrote.
The same petition had earlier been sent to the Chief Justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court, Mariam Aloma-Muktar, seeking her intervention.
The fraud suspect accused the trial judge of inclination to sentence him to a long jail sentence even before completion of trial.
According to the petition, the bail denied Mr. Seun Ogunbambo by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo was set aside by an appeal court.
A lawyer familiar with the case and who saw the petition said Mr. Ogunbambo ignored completely the real grounds for denial of his bail. “The reasons he was denied bail had to do with, among others, his notoriety as an unreliable person and his possession of three international passports with different identities,” said the lawyer.
The lawyer added that Justice Onigbanjo actually was known to be generous with granting
of bails and approving the release of seized passports to other fraud suspects. He cited the cases of Mahmud Tukur, son of the national chairman of the PDP, and Abdullahi Alao, whose father is an Ibadan-based businessman. Others granted bail by the judge include Alex Ochonogor and Christian Taylor. However, the judge was reluctant to approve Mr. Ogunbambo’s bail application because of the suspect’s “criminal antecedents,” said the lawyer.
In 2011, Mr. Ogunbambo jumped bail during his trial before Justice Adebisi Akinlade over a loan scam of N1.2 billion he had obtained from Stambic IBTC. Despite surrendering his passport to the EFCC, Mr. Ogunbambo disappeared into thin air during trial, only to be found later in Dublin, Ireland. He had traveled with another passport obtained with a forged identity.
“We are now in doubt as to his real identity. His face appears in the three passports but they have different names,” an EFCC counsel, Francis Usani, had pointed out during the trial after all three
passports in the suspect’s possession were seized. Despite his reputation, Mr. Ogunbambo’s high-powered defense attorneys used a series of legal maneuvers to obtain freedom for him at an appeal court.
Mr. Ogunbambo’s petition also claimed that he was victimized by Justice Onigbanjo’s court for an “unrelated” case involving the N1.2 billion loan with that Stambic IBTC. He claimed that the
bank had written to withdraw from the case following a negotiation with bank officials.
The suspect accused the EFCC and the court of deliberately ignoring the letter in order to victimize him.
However, the EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Usani, said he had not seen any letter from the bank suggesting a truce with the accused. Mr. Usani added that he was in constant communication with the Stambic Bank officials and they never mentioned any settlement with the accused, let alone forwarding a letter of withdrawal from the commission’s case against Mr. Ogunbambo.
“First thing is that it is impossible for any individual to say he wants to discontinue a criminal matter. Only the Attorney General can do so. Besides, I am in constant communication with officials of the bank and they never for once said such or sent any such letter to us,” said the EFCC’s attorney. He added: “If they wanted to withdraw, they would not have been coming to court to testify against him.” Mr. Usani noted that officials of Stambic Bank were in court to testify three weeks ago.
According to an EFCC source, Mr. Ogunbambo had once proposed to EFCC officials that he pay N250 million of the N4.4 billion allegedly involved in the fraud trial in order to end his legal ordeal. During a trial session in December 2012, the fraud suspect had also offered to make an upfront payment of N100 million and spread other payments in installments of N50 million every three months. The EFCC rejected the offer, describing it as “ridiculous.”
“It is tantamount to a person stealing billions and keeping same in the bank to offer paying the interest on it in installment so that he could return to the original fund after a while. That makes a mess of criminal prosecution and simply encourages people to steal and take such plea bargains,” said Mr. Usani while rejecting the offer.
Mr. Ogunbambo’s petition also alleged that Justice Onigbanjo was being paid by an undisclosed “influential major oil marketer” to jail him.
“My lord, I have now discovered that a son of one of the judges in Lagos State High Court, who is a company secretary of a major oil marketing company, is the liaison with Hon. Justice Onigbanjo to ensure that I’m convicted.
“I do not find this information incredible because I know that this major oil marketer, who is well connected to the government, has been seeking some way to punish me for his belief that I have a hand in the loss of his valued female friend and business partner, who recently left him for greener pasture.
“I am also aware that this company secretary has been visiting Justice Onigbanjo in the recent time for undisclosed reasons,” read the petition in part.
Mr. Ogunbambo alleged that he was privy to certain information from a close associate of the undisclosed “major oil marketer” that the marketer had boasted of sealing his fate with the Lagos State judiciary and spent “a lot of money” to ensure he was jailed a minimum of 75 years. He threatened to disclose the identity of the influential oil marketer bankrolling his legal ordeal “at the appropriate forum and time,” adding that he would release further evidence and information regarding identity and activities of the same person.
“The rulings I have referred to above are even child’s play in comparison to the manner in which the Honourable judge, during the proceedings in these charges, has granted the ex-parte application for the forfeiture of my assets to the Federal Government behind my back and before my guilt had been established,” the suspect complained in his petition. The judge had ruled that the suspect’s assets in Lagos should be forfeited to the Federal Government. The forfeiture order was given after the EFCC said in court that they suspected a move by the suspect to put the asset
up for sale so that it would not be recovered by the government.
Mr. Ogunbambo indicated in his petition that his counsel had filed an application for discharge of the ex-parte order forfeiting his assets to the Federal Government. The application is due for hearing on October 25, 2013 before the same judge, Adeniyi Onigbanjo.
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