An Abuja-based businessman, Jonathan Wallang, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine for defrauding the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Staff Bonny Cooperative Investment and Credit Society Limited of ₦700 million.
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Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama handed down the sentence after a decade-long trial initiated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which arraigned Wallang on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery, and obtaining money by false pretence.
Wallang, who is the Managing Director of Swift and Hay Limited, was arrested in 2015 following a petition by the NLNG Cooperative Society, which alleged that he conspired with others to defraud it under the guise of acquiring landed properties within the FCT.
According to the EFCC, Wallang received ₦520 million on October 20, 2011, and another ₦130 million on November 3, 2011, through Dinijocs Nigeria Limited, purportedly for the sale of a plot of land in Idu-Sabo District, Cadastral Zone D04, measuring over 643 hectares — a property he had no legal authority to sell.
The court found Wallang guilty on multiple counts. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of ₦200,000 fine on counts 1, 2, and 3 for conspiracy and forgery. However, for counts 6 and 7 — obtaining money by false pretence — the court imposed a seven-year prison term without the option of a fine.
Justice Muazu also ordered Wallang to restitute ₦580 million to the NLNG Staff Bonny Cooperative Society.
During the prolonged trial, two co-defendants, Julius Ola Peter and Ijeoma David Alanza, died, while a third, Emeka Iloegbunam, was discharged and acquitted. Wallang’s conviction closes one of the longest-running fraud cases prosecuted by the EFCC in recent years.
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