ABSENCE OF DEFENDANT STALLS ARRAIGNMENT OF DANGOTE STAFF FOR THEFT OF N450 MILLION

IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Absence of just one defendant today stalled arraignment of eight staff of Dangote Sugar Refinery Apapa for theft of N450 million.

They were to be arraigned along with company director, Mr. Habib Mande and his company El-Habib Property Nigeria Limited. The arraignment was stalled due to inability of the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) to produce one of the defendants in court.

Effort made by the prosecuting counsel Mr. E. A Jackson to continue with the arrangement was set aside by the vacation judge, Justice Sedotein Ogunsanya, insisting that the defendants must all be present in court before their plea will be taken.

The judge however adjourned till Monday 7th August for the arraignment of the accused persons.
According to the information before the court, the accused persons were to be arraigned on eight count charges bordering on stealing, forgery of cheque requisition form and uttering of documents, contrary to section 468 of the Criminal Code, Cap.C.38, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The charge reads: “ That you, Musa Sule, Habib Mande, El-Habib Propt. Nig.Ltd, Joseph Ukpah, Babatunde Ajao, Onyekwere Victor Chinedu, Alayande Rahaman, Omoro Ezekiel, Zainab Adebanjo, Abugba Christina Odion and Minnie Mohammed between 2012 and 2016, at Dangote Sugar Refinery Night. Ltd, Apapa, Lagos within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit a felony, to wit: the stealing of N451million, property of Dangote Sugar Refinery”.

Also made available was the petition letter by Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc dated 17th November, 2016.
Part of the letter stated that it was during a routine audit into the accounts of Dangote sugar refinery Apapa, that it was discovered that the sum of N67,906,150.00 (sixty seven million, non hundred and sixty thousand, one hundred and fifty naira only) was siphoned out of the company’s account to one company known as El-Habib Propt Nigeria Limited for shipment of goods in their behalf.

The letter further stated that the checks made on the company revealed that El-Habib Property Nigeria Limited had not been engaged for any service since 2016 and neither was it having pending claims with Dangote company.