Rich businessman, Wagbatsoma, Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison over Subsidy Fraud

Rich businessman and Chairman of Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, Walter Wagbatsoma and the MD, Madam Ada Ugo-Nnadi, have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for fuel subsidy fraud.

Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja on Thursday ordered Ontario Oil and Gas to refund N754m being the amount it defrauded to the Nigerian government.

EFCC had arraigned Wagbatsoma, Ngo-Ngali, and an official of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, Babafemi Fakuade, before the court on August 1, 2013.

In the eight counts pressed against them, the EFCC revealed that they were involved in a N1.9bn fuel subsidy scam. The judge eventually found them guilty in most of the counts.

Both chairman and MD were thus sentenced to prison and their company ordered to refund the sum of N754m back to Nigerian's account.