‘Dirty’ Plea Bargain: Judge questions how N200m crude recovered from oil thieves was sold for N17m
The judge also queried the conduct of the federal prosecutor for filing a “dirty” plea bargain agreement which gave the oil thieves from whom the crude oil was recovered a soft-landing.
A judge of the Federal High Court in the Warri Division, Delta State, has questioned how N200 million worth of crude oil recovered from some oil thieves was sold for N17 million
The judge, Okon Abang, also queried the conduct of the federal prosecutor, Onyeka Ohakwe, for filing a “dirty” plea bargain agreement which gave the oil thieves from whom the crude oil was recovered a soft-landing.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how Ms Ohakwe, who is of the Federal Ministry of Justice, watered down the charges initially filed against the oil thieves and followed it up with a plea bargain agreement that helped the criminals to walk free after paying a paltry N2,000 fine each.
Ms Ohakwe, in the amendment she filed in October last year, traded the original charges that carried life jail with the one punishable merely by the inconsequential N2,000 fine.
Delivering judgement in the case on November 24, 2021, the trial judge described the plea bargain agreement as “sordid, and morbid, very unpleasant and dirty.”
He also expressed frustration of being bound by law to accept the plea bargain which he said inhibited him from imposing a heavy punishment on the defendants to emphasise the contribution of oil theft to the nation’s economic adversity.
‘Questionable sale of recovered crude’
Mr Abang also found it worrisome that apart from the defendants walking free without getting the deserving punishment, the 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200 million was sold off at just N17 million.
Before Mr Abang took over the case, another judge of the Federal High Court, Emeka Nwite, had ordered the product to be disposed and the proceeds kept in an interest-yielding account by the registrar of the court pending the conclusion of the trial.
Mr Nwite, by his order issued on October 6, 2019, directed the registrar of the court along with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to carry out the order.
