Justice Daniel Osiagor of Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the arrest of two businessmen, Nabil Edmond Maukarzel and Halawi Fidaa, for allegedly refusing to appear in an alleged N9.4 billion fraud case.
Maukarzel, a Lebanese and Fidaa, a French national, were accused by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) of obtaining N9,442, 788,578.93 from Ecobank Nigeria under false pretences.
The police filed a three-count charge of conspiracy, fraud and stealing against the foreigners.
The charge, FHC/L/260C/2021, was signed by two prosecutors, Williams Tijani and S. O. Ayodele.
It said the accused and others at large in 2014 at Apapa conspired to commit a felony: obtaining N9,441,824,102.14 from the bank under the pretence they wanted to use it to import goods to Nigeria.
The police said they knew the representation to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.
The prosecution said the accused, “with intent to defraud”, also fraudulently obtained the sum from the bank, adding they stole the money.
Both offences are contrary to Section 1 (a), (c) & 1 (2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 punishable under Section | (3) of the same act, as well as Section 390 (a) of the Criminal Code of 2004.
The police said since the charge was filed last year, the suspects have failed to show up in court, prompting the prosecution to file a motion ordering their arrest.
Justice Osiagor issued a warrant, ordering that the suspects be apprehended and taken to the nearest police station.