By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Dr. John Abebe, an in-law to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has bagged seven years imprisonment for offences bordering on forgery and laundering.
At an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Saturday, Justice Mojisola Dada gave the verdict with an option of a fine to the tune of N50 million to be paid within 30 days in lieu of imprisonment.
An anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Abebe, a younger brother to the late former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo before the court for forgery.
Obasanjo ruled Nigeria as a democratically elected President from 1999-2007.
The EFCC, in the charges, claimed that Abebe “knowingly forged” a November 30, 1995 letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon Limited.
The trial judge rendered the verdict after concluding that the prosecution had established its case beyond a reasonable doubt and had found him guilty as a result.
In September 2022, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed an accusation of fraud against Dr. Abebe, before the Lagos State Special Offences Court.
Abebe was charged with six counts of conspiracy, theft, and acquiring money by deception along with Kamoru Alade Oladimeji, a former head of Firstbank Plc’s United Kingdom Correspondent Office.
