An appeal
court in Lagos yesterday upheld the conviction of nine foreigners for stealing
crude oil from Nigeria.A Federal High Court in Lagos, which had earlier
sentenced them for stealing 3,423.097 metric tones of the crude, gave each of
them an option of N20million fine.
The convicts
are Axel Jabone, Zahirul Islam, Juanito Infantado, Suarin Alave, Gatila Gadayan
and Islam Shahinul. Others are Islam Rafiqul, Shaikh Nomany and Rolando
Comendador.
Five of the
convicts are Filipinos, while the four others are from Bangladesh.Led by
Justice Hussein Mukhtar, the three-man panel also included Justices M. l.
Shuaib and Frederick Oho.
The
appellate court also dismissed the twin appeals by the appellants and resolved
all the contending issues in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).
According to
Justice Oho: “All the issues are resolved against the appellants, because the
appeal is manifestly unmeritorious and is hereby dismissed for lacking in
merit.”
On December
15, 2015, the lower court, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba said: “It was
the likes of the convicts who were arrested by the Navy on March 27, 2015, that
have given Nigeria a bad name.”
According to Guardian, The EFCC had
arraigned them on a four-count of illegal dealing in petroleum products.The
counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the foreigners violated section 1(19)
(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP M17, and laws of the Federation of
Nigeria 2004, an offence punishable under section 17 of the same Act.
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