Alleged P&ID Scam: Ex-Petroleum Ministry Director Gets N30m Bail

By Alex Enumah

A former Director of Legal Services in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Grace Taiga, was on Wednesday granted bail in the sum of N30 million over alleged complicity in the multiple fraud case involving Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID).

Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja admitted Mrs Taiga to bail in the said sum, while ruling in her bail application.

The judge also ordered the defendant to produce two sureties in the like sum, who must be residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, on October 7, re-arraigned Taiga before Justice Egwuatu on nine criminal count charge bordering on money laundering offences.

She pleaded not guilty to all the charges and her lawyer, Chief Ola Olanipekun, (SAN), accordingly moved her bail application, which was granted by the court.

As part of the bail conditions, the judge directed that one of the sureties must have property within the FCT and deposit the titled documents with the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court.

In addition, the two sureties must have evidence of tax clearance, while the defendant (Taiga) must deposit her international passport with the court and must get court permission before travelling outside Nigeria.

The judge then adjourned the matter to January 17, 2022 for commencement of trial.

The EFCC, had on September 20, 2019, arraigned Taiga in an FCT High Court in Apo, for complicity in the controversial contract Nigeria signed with the Irish firm, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) in 2008.

Taiga was the third person to be charged by the anti-graft agency.

The federal government had earlier arraigned two representatives of the P&ID before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on allegations of fraud.

Justice Ekwo after convicting the two defendants, sentenced the company, incorporated in British Virgin Island to wind up in Nigeria and its properties, forfeited to the federal government.

Ekwo also convicted two directors, Mohammed Kuchazi and Adamu Usman.

Kuchazi and Usman were arraigned on an 11-count charge, bordering on obtaining by false pretence; dealing in petroleum products without appropriate licence; money laundering and failure to register P&ID with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) as required by law, amounting to economic sabotage against the Nigerian state.

They pleaded guilty to the 11 counts of fraudulent involvement in the contract.

The court in its ruling convicted the suspects and ordered the firm to forfeit all its assets to the Nigerian government.