Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s brother-in-law, Dr John Abebe, has been sentenced by the court to seven years’ jail term after being found guilty of money laundering and forgery.
This was contained in a judgement delivered by Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja Special Offences Court, Lagos State.
In lieu of imprisonment, Justice Dada offered the convict a N50 million fine to be paid within 30 days.
Justice Dada delivered the verdict after determining that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted him accordingly.
Mr Abebe, who is a younger brother to the late former First Lady, Stella was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forgery.
On July 26, 2018, the convict was arraigned before the Special Offences Court in Ikeja by the prosecution, led by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), on a four-count charge of forgery, fabricating evidence, using fabricated evidence, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
In the charges, the EFCC claimed that Abebe "knowingly forged" a letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon (Nigeria) Limited on November 30, 1995.
The anti-graft agency claimed that the businessman “illegally inserted” into page 2 of the said letter “the following statement: “Also note that the ‘Buy-Out Option’ only applies to the pre-production stage of the NPIA. The $4m buy-out is thus irrelevant from production of oil in any of our fields.”
According to the EFCC, Dr. Abebe also attempted to “pervert the course of justice” by tendering the allegedly forged November 30, 1995 letter “as a fabricated evidence” in court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between Dr. John Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited and Statoil Nigeria Limited.