N57m fraud trial: Businesswoman Ebun-Phillips tells Lagos court how EFCC forced her to sign a deal for her freedom

The Ikeja Special Offences Court has heard how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) forced a Lagos-based businesswoman, Oluremi Ebun-Phillips, to sign a repayment agreement to regain her freedom while in the custody of the Commission at its command in Lagos.

Ebun-Phillips, and her company, Omritas Energy Ltd, were standing trial in the court on a five-count charge bordering on stealing and issuance of dud cheques to the tune of N57, 690,000.00. She was alleged to have fraudulently converted and stolen the sum of N57,690,000.00, property of AYM Shafa Limited meant for the supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), which was not supplied.

In a continuation of the hearing on Wednesday at the court presided over by Justice Ismail Ijelu, Ebun-Phillips, who provided evidence for her defense and Omritas Energy Ltd. presented to the court that while she was in dispute with the case filed by AYM Shafa Limited in Bauchi State, she was arrested and detained for 13 days at the Lagos State Command of the EFCC.

She added that the EFCC told her that she could only be released if she agreed to pay AYM Shafa Limited in installments.

Led by her lawyer, Mr Akin Olatunji, Ebun-Phillips said the driver of AYM Shafa Limited refused to load his company’s truck at the AGO depot. When she confronted the driver to find out why he violated the charging agreement. The answer was that the office had ordered him not to load the truck again due to the fall in price from N160 per liter to N140 per litre.

She said: “When the driver refused to load the AGO, I had to intervene after which he said he had been instructed not to load because of the crash in price. The diesel we bought for N160, now the product was being sold for N140 per litre. Our initial agreed price was N205 per litre before the price crash.

“I did all things within my power for the driver to load the product, but he refused. This refusal cost us a lot of money because after a week, the depot called that our product had been in the depot for more than 60 days and it had been attracting huge demurrage.

“We were later forced to sell off the product which was used to pay for the demurrage incurred at the depot.

“It was later that AYM Shafa called that we should return their money within seven days with a threat that we should be read to face the consequence.

“The next thing we saw after the seven days was a court summon from the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos ordering that Omritas Energy Ltd be closed down. We challenged this order in that court and we won the case.

“After this, AYM Shafa’s lawyer called to challenge me that we used our connection to win the case at the Federal High Court. He also threatened that we should be awaiting further action from them.

“Two weeks later, we received a summon from Bauchi State High Court on this same issue, even though the court has no jurisdiction. We lost the case at the Bauchi High Court, we went to the Appeal Court in Bauchi, the case was hurriedly heard; we lost. But not satisfied, we took the step further to the Supreme Court where it is currently being heard.

“To my surprise however, while we were still in the court, I was arrested by the EFCC in Lagos on 18 December 2019 on the ground that I owe AYM Shafa. The EFCC refused to release me on bail unless I signed an agreement to pay back AYM Shafa on an instalment basis. I was released on 31 December 2019 after this agreement was signed.

“Dissatisfied with the way the EFCC handled the case and the treatment I received, I had to file a petition against the EFCC.”

On the allegation of fraud, Ebun-Phillips’ lawyer, Akin Olatunji presented an Access Bank account Mandate which clearly showed that the accused was not the signatory to the account, while her photograph was not attached to the Mandate.

The account was being operated by her late husband and chairman of Omritas Energy Ltd, Oluwasegun Philips.

The lawyer enjoined the court to issue a subpoena to invite an Access Bank representative, Mr Uyoyou Ewe, to testify as to the signatory and owner of the account in the court. After much argument, the court granted the request for the subpoena and told the lawyer to liaise with the Registrar of the Court for the issue of the subpoena.

The case was later adjourned to 7 May 2024 for the EFCC counsel to cross-examine Ebun-Phillips and the presentation of other defence witnesses.

Meanwhile, at the last hearing on 14 February 2024, Ebun-Phillips who was being led in evidence by her counsel, Akin Olatunji, told the court that she was one of the directors and the Chief Operation Officer (COO) of Omritas Energy Ltd, while her late husband, Mr Oluwasegun Phillips was the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

She confirmed that she knew the nominal complainant, AYM Shafa Ltd through their Managing Director (MD), Alhaji Umar and they have had successful transactions in the past.

According to her, the MD of AYM Shafa called her on the phone on 4 October 2016 that he needed 500, 000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) at the Port Harcourt Refinery and she gave him the price at N155 naira per litre.

The witness said she received the sum of N75 million which was paid in N10 million tranches, from AYM Shafa’s account into the company’s account on 5 October 2016.

She said: “Upon receiving their payment, we commenced loading immediately and the next day, the MD called me that he spoke to his driver, and they confirmed to him that they have loaded 360,000 litres of the DPK out of the 500,000 litres he paid for.

“He said he would like to purchase an additional 500,000 litres of the kerosene, I told him to go ahead and make the payment which he sent another N75 million, in N10 million installment on 6 October 2016.

“However, after four days of continuous loading, we got an announcement that the refinery would be going on strike and as at that time, we have loaded about 640,000 litres out of the one million litres  and we were left with the balance of N360,000 of the DPK.

“We thought the strike was one- or two-days affairs, but it went on for a while.”

Ebun-Phillips further told the court that she got another call from the MD of AYM Shafa on 12 October 2016 to ask if there was AGO (diesel) in which she told him it was available at their depot in Akwa-Ibom.

She said the MD told her he would like to also purchase a one million litres of AGO that he would send his representative at the depot, one Mr Saidu Illiya to her.

According to her, Illiya came to meet her at the office concerning the AGO and also asked her for his own commission, but she told him that she had already given an agreed price to his MD.

She said: “On 17 October 2016, we got an alert of N100 million, in 10 million tranches which was sent from the account of Mr Illiya, and we commenced the loading of the AGO that very day.

“We had an understanding with the MD that since we do not know when Port Harcourt Refinery will be calling off the strike, we would like to covert the outstanding 360,000 litres of DPK to AGO to avoid delay and he appreciated it.

“We started loading and I later informed the MD that it seems there is also going to be scarcity of the AGO and that we are still waiting for the N60 million balance of the AGO from Mr Illiya so as to pay our suppliers on time.

“We waited and waited, the suppliers were calling from the depot, but we could not get the payment from Mr Illiya, and I had to put a call through to the MD who later confirmed that as a matter of fact, Illiya was supposed to pay us N105 million and that the company was supposed to balance Illiya N55 million but I confirmed to the MD that Illiya only paid N100 million.

“Shortly after, the MD called me that the N55 million has been paid to Illiya, but we did not receive the money from him until the product finished.”

The witness further said she informed the MD after the AGO finished and he promised to call her back, but he never did until five days she called him that she would like to refund the outstanding balance of N52 million.

She said 14 days after, she got a call from their suppliers that there would be product and she rushed back to Akwa-Ibom only for her mother to called her from Lagos that some policemen from Bauchi State Police Station came to arrest her.

According to her:” I told my mum to give the phone to one of the officers and he confirmed that they came from Bauchi on the order of the Chairman of the company, Abdulmuminu Yakubu Maishanu, and one of the representatives of the company was with them.

“So, I spoke with the representative of the company and told him that I had with me in Akwa Ibom their representatives. I was so curious to question what they were doing in my parent’s house with the police because I was in Akwa Ibom for the purpose of their product.

“He said they came to collect their money and I told him that should not be a problem because this was not our first time of transacting business and there was no time they have the cause of using force to do business with us.

“I tried to persuade him, but the representative insisted that their chairman had mandated them if they would not be able to come to Bauchi with me, they should rather collect cheque in lieu of cash.”

The businesswoman further said she told the representative that she has spoken with their MD to give her six months for her suppliers to refund the money, but he said that the chairman insisted the money must be refunded in four months.

She said: “He insisted he wanted cheque as a sign of agreement, but I told him I cannot give him because there was no money and the suppliers have not refunded the money.

“He told me to give him a few minutes to speak with their chairman on the phone and when he returned back, he said the chairman had agreed I paid back within four months, and I told him it is not within my power, but it is achievable as he should allow me talk to the suppliers as well.

“Then he suggested that the payment should be divided into four equal installments, but while I was telling them that it was N52 million, they were insisting that the total amount was N57 million. At that point, I did not understand where the extra N5 million was coming from only for the police officer to confirm to me again that I was paid N105 million by Mr Illiya.

“But I told him Mr Illiya paid N100 million, and he said we should not be arguing at the moment, so they divided the money, and the amount was N14 million with some extra on it. My late husband wrote the cheque and went to give them at my parent’s house.”

The witness also said that one week after, she received a call from the MD who tendered an apology on what happened. He said they acted on the information given by Illiya. He also told her to forget about the cheques that her suppliers could supply the product whenever it was available.

The defendant told the MD to understand that there was no product on ground, and she did not know when the product would be available as she was mainly in Akwa-Ibom for the purpose of recovering the money from the suppliers.

According to her, she later received a call 14 days from one Mr.Christian Ekemazie, who introduced himself as the head of legal for the complainant’s company asking her for a meeting.

She said: “I went to see Mr Ekemazie immediately I got back to Lagos, and he apologized on the company’s behalf and also said he would be in charge of the company’s transaction henceforth.

“He also told me they do not want the cheques again that it was the product they want, and I also reiterated that there was scarcity of product at the moment and there was no way I could get it for them.

“After much persistence, I called one of our suppliers that AYM Shafa did not want money, but my supplier objected because the price of the product has increased.

“He later promised to give them two trucks from the product they were expecting and due to the experience, I had with them, myself and Mr Ekemazie signed an agreement in which I promise to shoulder the logistics if they drove their trucks from the north to Akwa-Ibom and the product was not available.”