Pinnacle and Gas Oil Limited has reiterated that its owner, Peter Mbah was never prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged illegal financial dealings and misappropriation of funds.
The company was reacting to a story published by SaharaReporters over a plan by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in Enugu State to pick Mbah as governorship candidate despite prosecution by the EFCC.
The newspaper had reported how the former Commissioner of Finance in the state was charged before Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson of the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere for alleged intention to defraud and obtain by false pretences the sum of N986million from the Nigerian government.
He was also said to have “requested to obtain payment payable to the Integrated Resources Limited, by the Nigerian government, under the petroleum support fund, in respect of 19.347 million litres of PMS, which they falsely claimed to have purchased from Guinness Petroleum limited.”
The case was however withdrawn by the EFCC a few months later.
Reacting in another statement, Florence Tobi, Corporate Spokesperson for Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited said the case was initiated and fully struck out 10 years ago-specifically on July 31, 2012 by Justice Candide-Johnson and cannot be referenced in this situation.
She said, “The Board and Management of Pinnacle Oil and Gas refutes in its entirety the claims made by certain individuals circulated in your publication and wishes to state categorically that neither Peter Mbah nor Pinnacle Oil & Gas Limited is under EFCC prosecution as even the anti-graft body has stated clearly that it has no case against them.
“A case that was initiated and fully struck out 10 years ago-specifically on July 31, 2012 by Hon. Justice Candide-Johnson cannot and will never be referenced in this situation. For further effects, it should be noted that the EFCC at that time specifically said: that the charges preferred against the defendants in this case were misconstrued by the prosecution and were inadvertently filed against the said defendants.
“That a review of the prosecution’s case and the evidence available to the prosecution clearly show that the Defendants did not commit the offences for which they are charged.
“Dr. Peter Mbah has never committed any fraud, and this is well known to these characters but they chose to move from one wrong end to the other. In the view of the Party, which has absolutely nothing to do with Pinnacle Oil and Gas, Mbah in his Governorship screening form, presented his untainted credentials-easily the best any aspirant can parade either for Governorship or the Presidency of this country.
“Descending to the gutter, remaining there and looking for who to drag there with them will certainly do very little favours to these individuals who we do not know and have no business whatsoever with. Mbah is an international maritime lawyer of repute as well as a public administrator of outstanding distinction.
“For a man who has grown Pinnacle oil and Gas Group to the leadership of the downstream end of the Nigerian oil sector, a former Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Finance in his state, it must be a difficult task to pick out dirt of any colour from this Master’s degree holder in Business Administration from the globally acclaimed IESE Business School Barcelona, alumnus of the Chief Executive programme of the Lagos Business School, University of Oxford, Stanford Business School and Harvard Business School. Matched with the facts, it is very clear that the plan of these individuals and their sponsors to practically manufacture and throw dirts on Peter Mbah and Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, failed the second they took the first step.”
