Anambra Court Jails Orient Petroleum MD for N25bn Fraud

Justice O. M. Anyachebelu of the Anambra State High Court sitting in Awka has convicted and sentenced Engineer Nnaemeka Nwawka, managing director, Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, and Sage Nebefeife Foundation to fourteen years imprisonment each for stealing, conversion and gratification to the tune of N25billion.

They were jailed after being found guilty of ten-count charges bordering on stealing, conversion and gratification.

Count one of the charges reads: “That you NNAEMEKA NWAWKA, JUDE ANNIEKWE CYRIL and THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF SAGE NEBEIFE FOUNDATION sometimes between 23rd April to 21st December, 2012 in Anambra State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently converted to your personal use the aggregate sum of N82,856,934 (Eighty Two Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty Six Thousand, Nine Hundred and Thirty Four Naira) only which sum was transferred from Vhelbherg International Limited company account domiciled in Standard Chartered Bank account No. 0000777216 into the account of Sage Nebeife Foundation Domiciled in First Bank account No. 2017452111.”

Count two reads:

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“That you NNAEMEKA NWAWKA, JUDE ANNIEKWE CYRIL and THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF SAGE NEBEIFE FOUNDATION sometimes between 8th January to 24th May, 2013 in Anambra State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently converted to your personal use the aggregate sum of N29,620,733 (Twenty Nine Million, Six Hundred and Twenty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty Three Naira) only which sum was transferred from Vhelbherg International Limited company account domiciled in Standard Chartered Bank account No. 0000777216 into the account of Sage Nebeife Foundation Domiciled in First Bank account No. 2017452111”

They pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them, prompting the EFCC, through its counsel, Victor Ukagwu to go into full trial with him. The trial lasted ten years. The EFCC called four witnesses and tendered several documentary evidence admitted and marked exhibits p1 to p24. The evidence showed how Nwawka ensured that contracts were awarded to his friend’s companies from Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, how monies were paid to the companies and eventually returned to him through his Foundation and how he withdrew the said monies and used them for his personal needs.

Counsel to the first and third defendants, U. N. Udechukwu, SAN, and counsel to the second defendant, E.S.C Obiora, SAN, held briefs for their clients, offering defences on how the contracts were handled. However, Justice Anyachebe found two of the defendants guilty and convicted them accordingly.

The court held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore sentenced Nwawka and his Foundation to 14 years imprisonment. The court also ordered the convict and his Foundation to refund the sum of 140, 900, 000 (One Hundred and forty million, Nine hundred Thousand Naira) to Orient Petroleum Resources Plc.

Nwawka and his co-travelers bagged their imprisonment when one of the investors in his company, Chief Cletus Ibeto petitioned the Commission that he invested the sum of N25billion into Orient Petroleum Resources Plc but Nnawka through award of suspicious and bogus contracts to his friend’s companies, got most of the monies back through his Sage Nebefeife Foundation.