On Thursday, May 23, 2024, Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, convicted and sentenced Idris Bakare to four years imprisonment for defrauding British Airways of N35.6 million.
Bakare was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a four-count charge of stealing N35,672,845. The offence is contrary to Section 280(2) and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
One of the counts reads: “Idris Bakare Adeyemi, Dauda Adegboyega, and Zuraai Gold Ventures, between 23rd October, 2019, and 31st December, 2019, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly converted to your use the total sum of N35,672,845.00 belonging to British Airways.”
Bakare pleaded guilty to the charges. Following his plea, prosecution counsel Z. I. Atiku called EFCC investigative officer Mojibola Adekanbi for a review of the facts.
Adekanbi explained that the EFCC received a petition from British Airways on January 19, 2022, alleging that Total Nigeria Plc, British Airways engineers, and Sahara Energy had conspired to over-invoice aircraft Jet A1 fuel, resulting in a loss of N363,780,248.53 since 2018. Bakare, a former contract staff of Total Plc and a fueller, was implicated in the scheme.
“The convict conspired with others by selling Jet A1 fuel meant for British Airways to one Dauda Sulaiman. This was confirmed by the buyer through a series of transactions to the convict’s account,” Adekanbi stated. “The convict received a total sum of N40,676,000.00 from the buyer, Sulaiman, as proceeds from the sale of the stolen Jet A1 fuel.”
The prosecution counsel requested the court to impose restitution in accordance with Section 297 of the Administration of Criminal Justice and the Law of Lagos State. Consequently, Justice Abike-Fadipe sentenced Bakare to one year imprisonment on each of the four counts, with an option of a N1 million fine per count. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Bakare was also ordered to pay the remaining balance of N36,676,000.00 over three years starting from July 2024. Additionally, the judge ordered that the N4 million refunded should be returned to British Airways.
