The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Economic and Financial Crime Commission

  • Court resumes Dasuki’s aide trial, as EFCC retracts false publication

    Court resumes Dasuki’s aide trial, as EFCC retracts false publication

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, resumed the trial of Dasuki’s aide, Col. Nicholas Ashinze after the falsified publication by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) was retracted.

    Ashinze is standing trial with Wolfgang Reinl, an Austrian, Edidiong Idiong and Sagir Mohammed, on a 13-count charge bordering on money laundering.

    Other defendants in the case are five companies – Geonel Integrated Services Limited, Unity Continental Nigeria Limited, Helpline  Organisation, Vibrant Resource Limited and Sologic Integrated Service Limited.

    The judge had on March 21 ordered the EFCC to retract an offensive press statement issued by EFCC which was published in Vanguard Newspaper.

    The statement referred to Col. Ashinze as a retired officer and that he was never charged by EFCC for any offence on diversion and misappropriation of a whopping sum of N36 billion.

    Kolawole had also ordered that the Deputy Registrar, Litigation, of the court to liaise with the Deputy Sheriff to ensure that the March 21 order was served on the Editor-in-Chief or the appropriate person in Vanguard Newspaper.

    He said the relevant officer of the newspaper must come before the court on May 4 to show where it (newspaper) got the March 8 publication on the N36.8 billion fraud charge against the defendant.

    At the resumed hearing, the prosecuting counsel, Ofem Uket, informed the court that the said statement which was misreported had been retracted and published on ThisDay Newspaper dated April 12.

    The prosecution also told the court that he has in his possession a certified true copy of the retracted newspaper report and has given the defence counsel a copy of the report.

    Ernest Nwoye, Afam Osigwe and Chukwudili Anozie, counsel to Reinl, Idiong and Mohammed (1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants), however, objected to the admissibility of the retracted report.

    In their objection, they stated that the EFCC did not follow the order of the court in retracting the statement, rather they apologised which was against the order of the court.

    In the midst of the objection, counsel to Mohammed, Mr O. Jimoh, opposed the argument of his co-defence counsels on the admissibility of the retracted publication, stating that justice had already been done.

    He, however, cited a paragraph on the retracted publication which read: “the error in the figure was a mix-up in the body of the release as the headline reflected the correct information.

    “The reference to Ashinze as retired is regretted. We have since discovered that he is a serving Colonel in the Nigerian Army.”

    Counsel to Vanguard Newspaper, Mr F. Chude, who was present in court, apologised on behalf of the Newspaper over the invalidity of the report on Col. Ashinze.

    Chude informed the court that the Editor-in- chief of Vanguard was not aware of the court summon but was unable to come with the reporter, who covered the court proceedings.

    The judicial correspondent of Vanguard, Mr Ikechukwu Nnochiri apologised to the court for the misleading report, stating that it was predicated on a press release from the EFCC.

    Justice Kolawole in a short ruling said that he was satisfied with the retraction made by the EFCC in respect to the March 21 order.

    The judge also held that court is satisfied with the explanation and apology by Mr Nnochiri and he is hereby discharged and acquitted and the order of the court to summon him is hereby revoked.’’

    An EFCC investigator Hassan Seidu, who is a witness in the ongoing trial, continued his testimony on how the defendants got N5.6 billion from Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA).

    Seidu said in the course of their investigation, the EFCC requested from Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) a certified true copy of registration of six companies which was sent and forwarded through the executive chairman of EFCC.

    The defence team opposed to the admissibility of the document, stating they are not reliable after the prosecution prayed the court to admit the documents in evidence.

    In their argument, the defence said there is no evidence of payment of the prescribed fees as approved by the Minister of Trade.

    More so, that the said document has no name and certified signature, hence, the document failed to meet the provision of Section 379 sub.1 of Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015.

    The counsel, however, urged the court to take judicial notice as no prove of payment was made in relations to the documents and asked the court to “consign the document to the dustbin.’’

    The prosecution while addressing the court withdrew the document and promised he will do the needful in certifying the documents.

    The judge adjourned the matter until June 12, 20, July 5 and 11 for further hearing.

  • Five Osborne Towers VIP tenants under EFCC probe

    Five Osborne Towers VIP tenants under EFCC probe

    More facts emerged at the weekend on the cash haul at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was on the trail of some high-profile tenants when it found the $43.4 million, £27,000 and N23 million at House 6, Apartment 7B, it was learnt.

    Four of the tenants have been quizzed; a petition is pending against the fifth.

    The building, it was learnt, had been under surveillance because of the tenants.

    Sources said a whistle-blower alerted the EFCC about the apartment in which the huge cash was recovered.

    When the EFCC moved in, a source said, it was unaware that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had a Safe Apartment there.

    The high-profile tenants live in the building.

    The anti-graft agency, according to the sources, had been trying to identify the tenants’ assets, including choice apartments in the towers.

    The whistle-blower, it was learnt, might have had knowledge of the EFCC’s discreet investigation and decided to help.

    But, as it turned out, the apartment does not belong to any of the tenants.

    One of them was said to have sold his stake in the towers.

    A source said: “As at the time of the EFCC’s operation on Wednesday, about five high-profile tenants, who are either being investigated or on the radar of the commission, were suspected to be living or having apartments there.

    “Some of the tenants have been quizzed and others are undergoing investigation. Only one of them has an outstanding petition still being probed by EFCC detectives.”

    “Among them are two former governors, a director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and two prominent lawyers.

    “So, when the whistle-blower raised the red flag, the EFCC was quick to move in without knowing that the 7B apartment is a safe house of the NIA.

    “There was excitement in the Lagos Zonal office of the EFCC about a breakthrough. This was why the operation started between 10am and 11am,” the source said.

    He said EFCC was hesitant to cooperate with the NIA.

    A government official, who pleaded not to be named because of “the sensitivity” of the matter, spoke last night in what transpired between EFCC and NIA.

    He said the EFCC did not set out to ridicule or embarrass the NIA. “It is unfortunate that this is the second time this type of incident is happening between the two agencies,” he said, adding:

    “There was a case of some cash released for contingency assignment by presidential fiat through the NIA account. The release was based on the directive of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “When the EFCC began the investigation of some Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), it traced the movement of the cash to NIA account. Instead of seeking explanation from the Director-General of NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, the EFCC wrote directly to the Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN) to demand the details of the transactions on the said account.

    “In fact, the documents obtained from CBN included other sensitive operations and overhead. The NIA took exception to it. When President Muhammadu Buhari intervened, he saw all the records that neither NIA DG nor any staff benefited from the said funds.

    “NIA actually transferred the whole money as directed by the ex-President to another dedicated account. Subsequent EFCC investigation did not indict NIA. As for Wednesday’s operation, it was true that DG of NIA rushed to the Acting chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, who promised to intervene. The NIA boss only asked EFCC to retrieve the cash without making a public show of it in the media.

    “At the time the NIA got in touch with EFCC, the operation was already midway and strategy wise, the EFCC chairman felt it would convey a different impression because a crowd had already gathered in and around the towers.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The operation was based on the clues from the whistle-blower. The commission acted on intelligence. No one gave EFCC a list of safe houses of NIA. And the cash was also considered huge for NIA’s covert operations.”

    According to the source, the EFCC secured clearance from a senior intelligence officer before continuing its operation after entreaties from the NIA.

    ”I think there was communication gap somewhere and lack of synergy between the security and intelligence agencies,” he said, adding:

    “This incident will serve as a lesson for all the agencies to cooperate and share intelligence.”

    Nigerians have continued to raise questions about the ownership of the mystery cash, which the NIA has claimed.

    Among the questions is that if the money was meant for operations, why has it not been spent in two years? Was there any need for it, considering how long it has stayed unspent?

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said the money belongs to the state. If it is not returned in seven days, said the governor, the state will launch a legal battle to recover it.

    He said it was the proceed of the state’s gas turbine sold by the Rotimi Amaechi administration.

    Amaechi denied the claim, saying he had nothing to do with the money. He challenged Wike to prove the allegation.

    About N16billion has been recovered by the EFCC in the last few days in Lagos.

    About N12,360,814,000 and N4billion were traced to private accounts.

    On December 22, last year, the Federal Government launched the whistle blowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in public and private sectors.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said: “If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistle blower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and 5.0 per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered.”

  • Kano market leadership accused of embezzling  N700m

    Board of Trustees, Kano Traders Union, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), accusing the sacked leadership of Kano Textile Market Association of allegedly embezzling over N700 Million Union money.

     

    Already, the Board of Trustees has dissolved Alhaji Liti Kulkul leadership for many offences, ranging from refusal to vacate office after the expiration of his tenure since 2015, as well as allegations of selling plots of land belonging to the association, including other valuables.

     

    Similarly, the Traders Board of Trustees led by Alhaji Bature AbdulAziz have  since obtained a Court Order, restraining the Liti Kulkul dissolved leadership from tempering with the assets, finances and properties of Kantin Kwari textile market, pending the determination of motion on notice.

     

    The Court order obtained by the trustees restrained the sacked Executive members from further disposing of the properties of the market association, pending the hearing of the motion on notice.

     

    Bature AbdulAziz, who is also the President of the Harmonized National Traders Association told Reporters in Kano that already they have appointed a new Caretaker Committee headed by Alhaji Gambo Danpass to oversee the affairs of the market for the next three months before elections.

     

    According to him, they exhausted all entreaties, including meeting with the Police AIG zone One to convince Liti Kulkul to conduct elections, as his tenure has since elapsed but to no avail.

     

    The Chairman of Traders Board of Trustees also disalosed that apart from the caretaker committee  created, two other committees have been constituted to investigate how three buses, plots of land and other properties, belonging to the market are missing.

    He said that the matter is criminal in nature, hence the decision to petition the EFCC to investigate  how N700m got missing from the treasury of the market.

     

    The new Caretaker Chairman, Gambo Danpass  accepted the responsibility to conduct fresh election, pending the election of the new executive members, emphasizing that he wants to see a much more responsible leadership that is free of corruption, as well as boost the revenue generation of the state.

     

    However, he said right now they have no idea  of what the money been collected from over 1000 shops across the markets apart from those operating on temporary stalls.are been used for.

     

    Meanwhile, several calls put across to the sacked Chairman, Liti Kulkul for his reaction was unsuccessful, as his phone was not reachable.

     

  • Trafficking: UK court sentenced Nigerian to 22 years imprisonment

    Trafficking: UK court sentenced Nigerian to 22 years imprisonment

    A Nigerian woman, Franca Asemota, 38, has been sentenced to 22 years jail term for trafficking in persons.

    She was found guilty of attempting to traffic Nigerian girls through Heathrow Airport to work as sex workers in brothels across Europe, a statement by United Kingdom (UK) stated.

    Asemota was convicted on Wednesday, 3rd August at Isleworth Crown Court of eight counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking persons outside of the UK for sexual exploitation and two counts of assisting unlawful immigration.

    She was according to the statement “part of a criminal network that trafficked girls, boys and women from Nigeria to Europe using threats to guarantee their compliance.

    Two other people were convicted in 2013 as part of Operation Hudson. Odosa Usiobaifu, of Enfield, London, and David Osawaru, of Benin City, were sentenced to 14 years and nine years respectively.

    Franca Asemota was identified as a trafficking suspect in 2012 but fled from Italy to Nigeria when some of her co-conspirators were arrested by Immigration Enforcement investigators.

    “She spent time in Europe before the National Crime Agency (NCA) tracked her down to Nigeria. In an operation coordinated by the NCA she was arrested by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission in Benin City in March 2015. Once her identity was confirmed Asemota was then extradited back to the UK in January this year.

    She was found guilty of conspiracy to traffic for sexual exploitation and assisting unlawful immigration today (3 August), after a four-week trial at Isleworth Crown Court, and will be sentenced at the same court tomorrow (4 August). Asemota faced 12 counts in total,” the statement reads.

    David Fairclough, from the Immigration Enforcement crime team, said: “Asemota was the lynchpin of a trafficking ring which targeted vulnerable young women in Nigeria, promising them a brighter future working in Europe.

    “But it soon became clear that this was far from the truth. The victims, some as young as 13, were told they would be sold into prostitution. Asemota travelled with the girls in order to threaten them and keep them in line.

    “Trafficking is a despicable crime, as this case shows. We work closely with our law enforcement colleagues internationally to identify the criminal gangs responsible and put them before the courts.”

    Martin French, head of the NCA’s UK Human Trafficking Centre, said: “Franca Asemota and her criminal network took advantage of these vulnerable young women in some of the worst ways possible.

    They promised them a better life but in reality treated them as nothing more than a commodity to be sold into slavery.

    Asemota thought she could evade arrest by fleeing Europe and hiding in Nigeria. But the NCA’s partnerships give us global reach and mean international borders are no barrier to justice.

    This conviction is the result of many years of dogged investigation and co-operation between the NCA, Immigration Enforcement and our law enforcement colleagues both at home and overseas.”

    Asemota’s gang targeted teenage girls in remote Nigerian villages, some of whom had never left their home area before, telling them that educational work awaited them in Europe. The girls would stay with her before leaving, and in interviews with specialist officers from the NCA’s Vulnerable Persons Team many of the girls told how they referred to her as Auntie Franca.

    Asemota travelled with the girls on flights from Lagos, Nigeria, to Heathrow, between August 2011 and May 2012, with the intention of reaching France. They remained airside during the transit at Heathrow so were not subject to Border Force passport checks. However, the trafficking attempts were prevented when French Authorities identified the girl’s false documents on arrival in France. When they were then returned to the UK, Border Force officers carried out further investigations and the case was quickly referred to Immigration Enforcement criminal investigations.

    Five of Asemota’s victims gave evidence against her during the trial. One of them was rescued from prostitution in Montpellier, France, during a joint operation by Immigration Enforcement and the NCA.

    The cases are part of Operation Hudson, an Immigration Enforcement-led investigation targeting a number organised crime groups suspected of trafficking young women, via London, for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

  • Court slams N50m bail on AVM Alikali Mawu

    Court slams N50m bail on AVM Alikali Mawu

    An FCT High Court on Friday granted bail to AVM Alikali Mawu, a former Air Officer Training Command, bail in the sum of N50 million for alleged bribery.

    Mawu, a member of Committee for Procurement in the Ministry of Defence, was arraigned on June 21 before Justice Salisu Garba on a three-count charge of bribery.

    Garba, in his ruling, held that the defendant had been on an administrative bail and never defaulted.

    “Only in capital offences are bail not granted to the suspect, I have considered the affidavits filed by the defendant and I am convinced that he desired the bail.

    “The defendant is admitted to bail in the sum of N50 million, a surety in the like sum, who must have a property within Abuja with title deed in Abuja,’’ he said.

    Garba ordered that the defendant should deposit his international passport with the court.

    Mawu’s counsel, Tawo E. Tawo (SAN), had prayed the court to admit the defendant to bail.

    Tawo said that the motion was brought pursuance to sections 162, 163 and 164 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    EFCC Counsel Cosmos Ugwu urged the court to commence trial after ruling on the bail application, noting that the prosecution had two witnesses in the court.

    But, Tawo objected and prayed the court to adjourn the matter to enable the defendant to properly brief him.

    Tawo told the court that he was yet to get in touch with the defendant since June 21 when he was remanded.

    At the last sitting, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission had alleged that Mawu collected a cash gift of N5.9 million for the purchase of a Range Rover Evoque.

    He also received two vehicles -Ford Expedition SUV and Jaguar XF Saloon valued N15 million and N12 million, respectively from Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux Nigeria Limited, a contractor with the Nigerian Air Force.

    The court adjourned the matter till Sept. 30 for commencement of trial.