A Nigerian oil mogul Abdulrahman Bashir has been sentenced to 10 months imprisonment in the United Kingdom for breaching multiple orders of the court in a pending suit filed by Sahara Energy Resources Ltd.
Justice Butcher of England and Wales High Court had in February ruled that the chief executive officer of Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Limited be jailed.
Premium Times quoted the judge saying that “the basis of the sentence was that Mr Bashir had committed continuing breaches of the order of Mr Justice Robin Knowles of 1 August 2019 and of the order of Mr Justice Bryan of 6 September 2019.”
Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Limited had been ordered to comply with requests for the release of 6,400.69 metric tonnes gas oil to Sahara Energy Resource Ltd or its agent from Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Ltd, Jetty 6.436181, Ibafon, Kirikiri Waterfront, of Aero Maritime Street, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria (“the Terminal”).
The two firms had signed the agreement in July 2018 but first entered into a collateral management agreement (CMA) containing a London arbitration clause in the same month.
Court documents obtained by the online news platform said Mr Bashir breached those orders by failing to allow, or procure Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Ltd or its servants or agents to allow, the release of the said gas oil from the terminal.
Bashir’s sentence, the court also ruled, could be reduced to six months if he complies with the previously breached order.
The court fined Rahamaniyya £500,000 while its manager Adebowale Aderemi was fined £10,000.
Bashir failed to comply with three court orders and in an application in November he sought for the disregard of the orders.
“It was difficult for him to get a solicitor in the UK to verify the position and take appropriate steps. When he did finally get a solicitor at Simon Bethel Solicitors, there were hiccups transferring funds from Nigeria to the UK to enable work to commence,” his laywer Andrew Thomas stated.
His application was dismissed by Justice Jacobs.
The news platform said it could not immediately confirm if the Nigerian had surrendered himself to serve his jail term.
