Anambra High Court Jails Orient Petroleum MD, Foundation Trustees for ₦25bn Fraud
Justice O. M. Anyachebelu of the Anambra State High Court, sitting in Awka, has convicted and sentenced Engineer Nnaemeka Nwawka, Managing Director of Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, together with the Sage Nebefeife Foundation, to fourteen years’ imprisonment each for offences of stealing, conversion, and gratification involving funds amounting to ₦25 billion.
The defendants were found guilty on a ten-count charge bordering on fraudulent conversion and gratification. Evidence presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), through its counsel Victor Ukagwu, revealed how Nwawka diverted company funds by awarding contracts to associates’ firms, channeling payments through the Sage Nebefeife Foundation, and subsequently withdrawing the monies for personal use.
The trial, which spanned ten years, featured four prosecution witnesses and documentary exhibits marked P1 to P24. Despite the defence put forward by Senior Advocates U. N. Udechukwu and E. S. C. Obiora, the court held that the EFCC had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Anyachebelu consequently sentenced Nwawka and the Foundation to 14 years’ imprisonment and ordered them to refund ₦140.9 million to Orient Petroleum Resources Plc. The conviction followed a petition by investor Chief Cletus Ibeto, who alleged that his ₦25 billion investment in the company was misappropriated through fraudulent contracts and diversions orchestrated by Nwawka.
