Court Remands Four Over Fraudulent £2.55bn Refineries Scam

A Federal High Court in Lagos, yesterday, remanded four directors of Petro Union Oil and Gas Ltd in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s custody following their arraignment for alleged £2.556billion scam.
The directors are: Abayomi Kukoyi (trading under the name and style of Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates), Prince Kingsley Okpala, Prince Chidi Okpalaeze and Prince Emmanuel Okpalaeze.
They were accused of, among others, forging a Barclays Bank cheque and attempting to use it to obtain £2.556billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in three fake refineries scam.
The EFCC, in the charges, alleged that the defendants “fraudulently procured a Barclays Bank cheque, dated 29th December, 1994, in the sum of £2,556,000,000.00 made payable to Gladstone Kukoyi and Associates, purporting the said cheque to be meant for foreign investment in the construction of three refineries and a petrochemical complex in Nigeria, when you knew that the said cheque to be false.”
The anti-graft agency further alleged that the defendants, with an intent to defraud, “forged a certain document to wit: statement of account in the name of Goldmatic Limited purportedly issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria with Account Number: 10382175, wherein you falsely claimed that the Central Bank of Nigeria had in its custody, the sum of £2,159, 221, 313. 54 in favour of Goldmatic Limited.”
Each defendant pleaded not guilty.
EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs, prayed the court to remand the men in Nigerian Correctional Services custody, pending trial.
The oil firm and the directors were arraigned before Justice Mohammed Liman at the Federal High Court in Lagos.