Four in court over stolen oil Four persons including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kare & Kare Company, Richard King Atipo, were yesterday dragged to court for their role in the importation of petroleum products believed to have been stolen from Nigeria. The vessel, MT Mustard, went to Saltpond to offload the oil after the crew went to high seas to bring the oil from a Nigerian ship which had on board masked men wielding arms, and forced the MT Mustard crew to accept the oil or have their ship blown up. The accused persons, Atipo, Michael Chukuwuemeka, a boat driver, Theophilus Odoom, a petroleum inspector and Mohammed Awal Umar, a security man, were put before an Accra Circuit Court and charged with two counts of conspiracy and four counts of stealing. They have denied any wrongdoing and have been remanded on the orders of the trial judge, M.E. Essandoh, to reappear on August 28, 2013. DSP Aidan Dery, the prosecuting officer who presented the facts of the case told the court that Atipo is the CEO of Kare & Kare, Chukwuemeka is boat driver, Odoom is a petroleum inspector and Umar, a security man. He said between June and July this year, the CEO invited the boat driver for an oil business transaction and consequently footed his food and accommodation bills while he was in the country. According to him, on July 19, 2013 Atipo chartered a tanker vessel by name MT Mustardfrom Omaroil Agency in Tema, on behalf of Kare & Kare, to lift oil from another vessel 60 nautical miles offshore Tema in a ship-to-ship operation. Furthermore, he stated that Atipo engaged Odoom, an oil inspector, to go with the boat driver who is a super cargo representative in order to meet the requirements of the operation. He said while on high seas, the vessel was under the control of the CEO, adding that it got to the mother vessel to lift the oil on July 20, 2013, and positioned itself for the operation to commence, but the whole process was fraught with dishonesty. The police officer noted that ship-to-ship operations were not usually carried out on high seas and explained that there were no documents in respect of the transaction, which was required by law, to enable any proper inspection on the vessel. In addition, he said the actual name of the mother vessel was Mt Cotton, which was replaced with the MT Akai, and was handwritten, adding that the crew on MT Akaiwore masks and wielded guns with their names on their overalls covered. DSP Dery stated that under the circumstances, the captain of the vessel had no choice than to accept the oil as the crew members of the mother vessel threatened to blow up their vessel. Explaining further, he said on July 22, 2013, the MT Mustard crew arrived with the oil at Tema anchorage, so the captain informed the vessel owner of their encounter and on July 30, 2013 it proceeded to an offshore facility at Saltpond at the instance of Atipo. The prosecutor said the National Security got wind of the vessel and informed the Ghana Navy who proceeded to Saltpond and had thecrew arrested. He said during investigations, the name Atipo cropped up so the CEO, in the company of his lawyers, reported to the National Security, but failed to produce papers to show actual ownership of the oil. In addition, the police officer said Atipo also had no idea of the name of the mother vessel from which the oil was lifted, but had a contract with a Nigerian Company for J.J. Shipping for the supply of Low Pure Oil (LPFO)and observed that the oil on MT Mustard was High Pure Oil (HPFO). Source:Daily Guide
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:50:29 +0000
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