My company received no payment - Witness

A contender of ownership of $391,250 yesterday told the Financial Division of the High Court of how his company received no payment after using its vessel to cart 16,676 metric tonnes of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) from Cotonou to Saltpond.

According to Mr Adeleke Alexander Oyinlola, his vessel, MT Soleushing, was used to cart the LPFO from Cotonou to Ghana in April 2014 but he was yet to receive payment of $440,000.

The witness told the Financial Division of the High Court that Spiral Oil and Gas and Grandfather Oil and Gas chartered the vessel via First Overcomers Limited, the managers of the vessel.

He said he believed Grandfather Oil and Gas was owned by Christopher Isibor, the man who sold the LPFO to Auxesia Energy Limited.

 

Background

Mr Oyinlola’s company, Soleushing Nigeria, is currently battling with Auxesia Energy Limited and Soleushing UK over the ownership of $391,250, which is currently in the coffers of the Judicial Service.

The money was withdrawn from Auxesia Energy Limited’s account but the company is arguing it had no dealing with Soleushing Nigeria and UK to warrant it to pay the amount to either of them.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, is currently gathering evidence to determine the actual owner of the amount.

An investigator from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Mr Patrick Kofi Awoonor, the Managing Director of Auxesia Energy Limited, Mrs Faith Odulu, and Mr Ben Kwabena Antwi, who works with Earth Oil and Gas, Ghana  have so far testified.

 

Nobody has paid us

Led by his lawyer, Mr James Abiaduka, to give his evidence-in-chief, Mr Oyinlola told the court that his company met its contractual obligation when it loaded, secured and delivered the product at its destination.

“Nobody has paid us my Lord,” Mr Oyinlola pointed out and further denied claims that the vessel in question did not belong to him.

He denied claims by Soleushing UK that the vessel was valued at $2.5 million and rather held that he bought the vessel for $970,000 and has been running it since 2007.

The witness narrated incidents leading to the loading and offloading of the LPFO and said Mrs Odulu introduced him to a lawyer to assist him to fight over the ownership of the vessel at a court in Cape Coast.

According to the witness, Auxesia Energy Limited and Leushing International Limited, the company which eventually bought the LPFO, “knew that without a cheque for charter fees, not one teaspoon of oil will come out of the vessel”.

He said Mrs Odulu at a meeting with him and others at a hotel in Accra told him she did not have any charter agreement with him to warrant any payment.

Mr Oyinlola said he had been dealing with Auxesia Energy Limited since 2011 but explained during cross examination from counsel for the EOCO, Mr Edward Cudjoe, that this was the first time he had dealt with Elder Isibor.