The Federal Government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arraigned PetroUnion Oil & Gas Company Limited on a seven-count charge alleging involvement in a massive £2,556,000,000 fraud, based on a newly amended charge.
The amended charge, brought before the Federal High Court, accuses the oil company and its former Chairman and CEO, Prince Isaac Okpalaeze (now deceased), of forging, altering, and knowingly procuring a Barclays Bank cheque dated 29 December 1994, made payable to Gladstone Kukoyi & Associates.
The cheque was purportedly intended for foreign investment in the construction of three petrochemical complexes in Nigeria.
During the proceedings, Adebiisi Adeniyi, counsel for the Federal Government, requested that the amended charges be read to allow the defendant to enter a plea.
Chris Obiaka, representing PetroUnion, objected, arguing that the amended charge now lists only PetroUnion as the defendant, whereas the previous second further amended charge involved five defendants.
He urged the court to discharge the other defendants no longer part of the case.
The prosecution countered that the present charge constitutes a new and independent case, and that the other four defendants had been charged separately before another Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court overruled the objection, and the seven-count amended charge was formally read. PetroUnion entered a plea of “not guilty.”
The amended charges allege that PetroUnion and Okpalaeze knowingly procured the Barclays Bank cheque while aware it was unlawfully obtained.
They are further accused of presenting the cheque as genuine, forging it, and attempting to commit a felony by presenting it to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, knowing it was false.
Between 2006 and 2012, they allegedly attempted to defraud the Central Bank of Nigeria by demanding £2,159,221,313.54 as proceeds of the cheque, and later attempted to defraud both the Central Bank of Nigeria and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc of £2,556,000,000.
The defendants are also accused of conspiring to commit this fraud during the same period.
The charges are brought under relevant sections of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, 1990, and the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud-Related Offences Act, 2006.
The court has adjourned the case for trial to 16, 17, and 18 February 2026.
The EFCC’s prosecution highlights its continued focus on high-profile financial crimes, and the outcome of this trial is expected to have significant implications for corporate governance and anti-fraud enforcement in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
