Alleged N4.8bn Fraud: Cletus Ibeto’s Trial Adjourns Till October 24

<h4>Alleged<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Justice Oyindamola Ogala of the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja&comma; on Thursday&comma; July 4&comma; 2024&comma; adjourned till October 24&comma; 2024 further hearing in the alleged N4&period;8bn fraud trial involving Cletus Ibeto&comma; Chairman&comma; Ibeto Energy Development Company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ibeto alongside Ibeto Energy Development Company and Odoh Holdings Ltd are to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission&comma; EFCC&comma; on 10-count charges bordering on allegations of obtaining by false pretences&comma; fraudulent conversion of property&comma; criminal breach of trust&comma; forgery and deception to the tune of N4&period;8bn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Count one reads&colon; <em><strong>&&num;8220&semi;That Chief Cletus Ibeto&comma; Ibeto Energy Development Ltd and Odoh Holdings Ltd&period;&comma; between June 2016 and May 2017&comma; within the jurisdiction of the court&comma; by false pretence and with intent to defraud&comma; obtained from Dozzy Oil &amp&semi; Gas Ltd and Sir Daniel Chukwudozie&comma; the sum of N4&period;8bn purporting same to be consideration for 22&period;6536 hectares of land&comma; which he claimed to have at the end of Reclamation Road Layout&comma; Port Harcourt&comma; Rivers State by a deed of sublease executed by Odoh Holdings and Ibeto Energy Development Ltd when he only had 7&period;9 hectares of the said land&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Count three reads&colon; <em><strong>&&num;8220&semi;That Chief Cletus Ibeto&comma; Ibeto Energy Development Ltd and Odoh Holdings Ltd&period;&comma; on or about January 30&comma; 2018&comma; allegedly with intent to defraud&comma; forged a Deed Of Sublease between Odoh Holdings Ltd and Ibeto Development Ltd purportedly&comma; registered as No 47&comma; Page 47&comma; Vol&period; 280 of the Lands Registry&comma; Rivers State wherein they claimed that Odoh Holdings Ltd acquired leasehold interest in respect of 22&period;6536&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendants are further accused of obtaining the sum of N2&period;5 billion from their victims as consideration for a non-existent 14&period;1 hectares of land&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The offences are contrary to Section 1 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act 2006&comma; Section 365&lpar;3d&rpar; and &lpar;e&rpar;&comma; and Section 366 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State&comma; 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At Thursday’s sitting&comma; prosecution counsel&comma; Rotimi Jacobs&comma; SAN&comma; expressed concerns over the plans of the defence regarding the matter&comma; given the fact that the defendant&comma; rather than appearing in court for his arraignment&comma; had chosen to negotiate with the Commission how to pay back his debt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Jacobs&comma; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We need to know what their plans are&period; Are they planning to continue with the litigation&quest; Or do they want to sit with the prosecution and complainant to negotiate an out-of-court settlement&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He has paid back a large part of the money&comma; and we need to know whether we should use it as an exhibit or consider it his commitment to an out-of-court settlement because they have continued to file different applications challenging the court’s competence to hear the matter&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Counsel to the defendant&comma; Adebayo Oshodi&comma; did not react to the submissions by the Jacobs&period; He&comma; however&comma; sought the leave of the court to re-list an application challenging the court’s territorial jurisdiction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Responding&comma; Jacobs kicked against the prayer by the defence&comma; saying the application had been voluntarily withdrawn at the instance of the defence team before it was struck out by the court&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote; It can not be re-listed before the same court&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The judged upheld the argument of the prosecution counsel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Though Justice Ogala also frowned at the move by the defendant&comma; who has been meeting the EFCC investigators on ways to pay back the money he allegedly owes the complainant instead of appearing in court<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The judge&comma; however&comma; said she would not comment on the move by the prosecution and the defence to settle the matter out of court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The case was adjourned till October 24&comma; 2024 for further hearing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;