The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fraud

  • Police arraign ‘pastor’, brother for fraud

    A fake pastor, Ademola Alade and his brother, Adewumi, have been arraigned at an Ado-Ekiti Magistrate’s Court for alleged N1.7 million fraud.

    The prosecutor, Sgt. Caleb Leranmo, told the court that the accused committed the offence on November 7, last year.

    He said the accused fraudulently obtained the N1.7 million from seven people, who were seeking employment into the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    Leranmo gave the victims’ names as Femi Olowo, Emmanuel Ojo, Ireti Ojo, Gbenga Oluwasuyi, Kayode Dada, Fisayo Olubumo and Ayodele Omosowon.

    The accused, who were arraigned on a four-count charge, pleaded not guilty.

    The defence counsel, Busuyi Ayorinde, urged the court to grant them bail.

    The Magistrate, Doyin Akosile, granted them bail of N50, 000 and two sureties.

    She adjourned the case till July 27.

  • Moneychanger charged with fraud

    The police yesterday arraigned a 41-year-old Bureau De Change operator, Ibrahim Kabiru, at the Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged fraud.

    The prosecutor, Raymond Odion, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the accused, on January 14, with an accomplice who is at large, obtained N900, 000 from one of his business associates, Kabiru Yakubu, under pretext of giving him the dollar equivalent.

    The prosecutor alleged that under investigation, it was discovered that the accused fraudulently obtained $33, 000 (N6.5million) from an unsuspecting victim through the internet.

    The three-count charge of conspiracy and fraud contravenes Sections 1 (3) and 7 (2) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Oher Related Offences Act, Laws of the Federation 2006.

    Justice Mohammed Idris ordered that Kabiru, who pleaded not guilty, be remanded in prison custody pending the hearing of his bail application

    The defence lawyer, Mr Chuma Mepe-Olisa, sought an adjournment to enable him prepare the bail application.

    Justice Idris adjourned to October 12.

  • ICPC grills Orubebe for alleged N605m fraud

    ICPC grills Orubebe for alleged N605m fraud

    Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godsday Orubebe has been quizzed in connection with the ongoing investigation of an alleged N605million fraud.

    The cash was withdrawn from the Constituency Project account of the ministry by five officials without authorisation while Orubebe was in charge.

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has filed charges against the five. They are: Yusuf Agabi (Director of Finance and Account), Akpore Okeroghene (Deputy Director of Finance), Abibu Ayinla (Director of Finance), Idowu Adewale (Deputy Director, Accounts) and Ngozi James (Deputy Director, Accounts).

    According to the Chief Legal Officer of the ICPC, Paul Ahmed, the suspects “fraudulently withdrew N605 million from the Constituency Project account of the ministry without authorisation” between July 2013 and October 2014.

    They were alleged to have made fictitious claims through payment vouchers to cover up the alleged fraud.

    Although Justice Husseini Baba of the FCT High Court fixed September 16 for the arraignment of the suspects, the ICPC intensified its investigation by inviting Orubebe.

    According to the fact-sheet obtained from the commission, Orubebe spent about two and a half hours on Monday with a team of investigators.

    Orubebe arrived at about 9.59am and left at about 12.28pm.

    It was not immediately clear if Orubebe was in any way connected with the alleged fraud or he is being prepared as a witness.

    A source in ICPC said: “In spite of the fact that we have filed charges against five directors in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the investigation into the fraud is open-ended.

    “Certainly, we still have some gaps to fill on the case because we are suspecting that there might be more accomplices in the system.

    “Orubebe was in charge of the ministry when the fraud was perpetrated; we need to find out from him how things went wrong. Perhaps, he may give more insights.

    “What we did was to ask a team of investigators to interact with the former Minister especially on the accounting procedure and authorisation of funds in the ministry.”

    A top official of the ICPC said: “Without prejudice to the ongoing court process, our operatives interacted with Orubebe but we cannot give details.”

    Orubebe did not pick calls made to his telephone lines yesterday.

    A text message sent to him was also unacknowledged.

    The last public outing of Orubebe was when he created a scene at the International Conference Centre in an attempt to abort the collation of the results of the March 28 Presidential Election.

  • Oronsaye, company’s chief arraigned for N1.2b ‘fraud’

    Oronsaye, company’s chief arraigned for N1.2b ‘fraud’

    •Court releases ex-Head of Service          •To hear bail application July 21

    Former Head of Service of the Federation (HOS) Stephen Oronsanye was arraigned with Osarenkhoe Afe yesterday at a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged N1.2 billion fraud.

    Oronsaye and Afe, who was described as the Managing Director of Frederick Hamilton Global Services Limited – a firm allegedly used by the duo in looting public funds – were arraigned  on a 24-count of conspiracy, advance fee fraud and money laundering.

    In the charge, Oronsaye, Afe and his company were said to have committed the offence with Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, who the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said was now at large.

    They were accused of diverting public funds between 2010 and 2011 by allegedly awarding phoney contracts to some nine companies in relation to the biometric enrolment exercise for civil servants.

    The companies are: Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Ltd, Innovative Solutions Ltd, XangeeTechnologies Ltd, Fatideck Ventures, Obalando Nigeria Enterprises, Moshfad Enterprises, Fesbee Global Resources Ltd, Jolance Integrated Concept Limited and M.O.F. Investment Ltd.

    Oronsaye, Afe and his company were, in Count One, accused of “disguising the genuine nature of N161,472,000 derived from an illegal act to wit: conducting procurement fraud by means of fraudulent and corrupt action: the contract extension of biometric enrolment purportedly awarded to Innovative Solutions Ltd by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation without following due process and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004.”

    Oronsaye was particularly accused, in Count 24, to have “transferred an aggregate of N113, 638,980.70 derived from an illegal act to wit: breach of trust by authorising the movement of the said sum from the account of the Head of Service of the Federation with Union Bank to a Unity Bank account belonging to a Principal Private Secretary to the President of Nigeria (Contingency Account) and to which account (Unity Bank account) you were the sole signatory and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14(1)(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004.”

    The accused persons pleaded not guilty when the charge was read.

    The defence lawyers, including Kanu Agabi, SAN (for Oronsaye) and Oluwole Aladedoye (for Afe) applied orally to the court to release their clients on bail.

    Agabi argued that under the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, an accused person was entitled to bail and an oral application for such could be made.

    Prosecuting lawyer Yusuf Aliyu objecting, argued that oral application for bail was not permitted under Section 162 of the ACJA.

    He said bail could only be granted judicially and judiciously based on materials in the form of affidavit evidence placed before the court.

    Aliyu asked the court to remand the accused persons to prison and sought an adjournment till Wednesday to enable him respond to the written bail applications filed by the defence.

    The prosecution accused them of committing the procurement fraud in 2010 under the pretext of using the money illegally withdrawn from the Federal Government’s account for “biometric data capturing project”.

    The offences, allegedly committed while Oronsaye was the Head of Service of the Federation, were said to be contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and section 1(1) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other related offences Act.

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in his ruling, ordered their release from custody and directed the accused to file formal bail applications.

    Justice Kolawole, who adjourned to July 21 for the hearing of the bail applications, held that his order for the release of the accused persons would only take effect upon the filing of a written undertaking by their lawyers, pledging to produce them in court at the next hearing date.

    The judge hinged his decision to release the accused persons on the grounds that the EFCC had not indicated that they, particularly Oronsaye, had the tendency of absconding from trial.

    He noted that since the EFCC had granted him administrative bail, there was no need to deny him such bail, when he did not abuse the opportunity earlier given him by the EFCC.

    The judge rejected the request by the lawyer to the EFCC for the remand of the accused persons in prison.

    Justice Kolawole held that he could not force the accused persons on the EFCC, whose counsel contended that there was no space to accommodate them in its custody. He added that under the principle of “interim judicial reprieve”, the court possesses the power to release the accused persons pending the hearing of the bail applications.

    He fixed October 28, 29; November 3 and 5 as well as December 5 for trial.

  • Police arraigns reggae star for alleged $86,376 fraud

    Police arraigns reggae star for alleged $86,376 fraud

    Raggae star, Victor Essiet of the famed Mandator, was yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court for alleged fraud of $86,376.

    The Police arraigned Essiet alongside one Patricia Enobong before the court, presided by Chief Magistrate Y. E. Aje Afunnwa.

    They were alleged to have obtained the sum by false pretence from one Etim Maurice.

    They are facing a three -count charge bordering on conspiracy, felony, stealing and fraudulent obtaining, made against them by the police.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when read to them in the court.

    The prosecutor, Superintendent of Police, Samson Ekikere said the defendants committed the alleged offences in October 2009 at Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere Lagos.

    He posited that the defendants obtained the said sum from Maurice through Standard Chartered Bank under the false pretence of buying and delivering five Mack trucks made to carry his goods which they failed to deliver.

    According to Ekikere, the offence is contrary to section 312 (1)(a)(b) and punishable under section 312(3) of the criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeira 2011.

    Chief Magistrate Afunwa granted them bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties who must be blood related, gainfully employed and must have verifiable addresses.

    She further ordered that the defendants should not travel outside Lagos without the approval of the Court.

    She also said that the defendants should deposit their international passports with the Court.

    The Magistrate adjourned the matter to October 28, 2015 for trial.

     

  • Court remands ex-FCT minister’s aide, others in prison for alleged N192m fraud

    Justice Abubakar Talba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja yesterday ordered that Yau Mohammed Gital, the Chief of Staff to the immediate past FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed and two others be remanded in prison.

    The judge’s order followed their arraignment on a 10-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence, conspiracy and forgery involving about N192,000,000.

    Also arraigned with Gital, who was said to be a member of the Land Allocation Committee, Federal Capital Territory Administration, include his former Special Assistant, with Shuaibu Yakubu and the Managing Director, Jibmir Ventures Nigeria Limited, Jibril M. Tahir.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated in the charge that the three accused persons to obtained money from various unsuspecting persons under the false pretence that the money was for processing and facilitation of land allocation by the Federal Capital Development Authority.

    The three pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them, following which their lawyer, Nura Imam applied to the court to grant them bail pending their trial.

    The judge adjourned to July 2 for ruling on the bail application and ordered that the accused persons be held in prison before the next date.

     

  • Fraud: Court remands ex-FCT Minister’s aide, others

    Fraud: Court remands ex-FCT Minister’s aide, others

    Justice Abubakar Talba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja Monday ordered that Yau Mohammed Gital, the Chief of Staff to the immediate past FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed and two others be remanded in prison.

    The judge’s order followed their arraignment on a 10-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence, conspiracy and forgery involving about N192, 000,000.

    Also arraigned with Gital, who was said to be a member of the Land Allocation Committee, Federal Capital Territory Administration, include his former Special Assistant, with Shuaibu Yakubu and the Managing Director, Jibmir Ventures Nigeria Limited, Jibril M. Tahir.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated in the charge that the three accused persons to obtained money from various unsuspecting persons under the false pretence that the money was for processing and facilitation of land allocation by the Federal Capital Development Authority.

    The three pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them, following which their lawyer, Nura Imam applied to the court to grant them bail pending their trial.

    The judge adjourned to July 2 for ruling on the bail application and ordered that the accused persons be held in prison before the next date.

  • Bank fraud epidemic

    •We need a mechanism that will reduce this to the barest minimum

    Nearly 10 years after consolidation, followed by an earth-shaking sanitisation exercise four years after, all would seem far from well with the Nigerian banking industry. While a lot may have changed for good in the general service landscape as a whole, thanks to the rapid deployment of new technologies, the same bad habits by the operators which once plunged the sector into ruin would appear to have endured.

    That, at least, was the picture as presented by Henry Semenitari, chief executive officer of one of the nation’s banks last week – himself quoting from the latest Financial Institutions Training Centre publication –the FITC Report on Frauds and Forgeries in Banks. According to the bank chief, between January and September 2014, a total of 8,502 fraud cases were recorded in the banking sector involving N23.34bn. As if this figure is not itself alarming enough, – the report, said to be based on 66 returns received from 22 banks – would appear a measure of how pervasive the scourge is to the entire financial services industry.

    As for the cases, they were said to stem from fraudulent ATM withdrawals, computer fraud, fraudulent withdrawals, suppression of entries and opening/operating fraudulent accounts.

    Admittedly, the situation at this time hardly requires hitting the panic button; rather, what it calls for is urgent action to check the scourge which has the potential both to erode the trust and ultimately bring the financial services industry to its knees. Nigeria, currently faced with a haemorrhaging public sector would certainly be doomed were the financial sector to suffer the same fate.

    Of course, we appreciate that no financial services sector can claim to be immune from fraudsters – either from within or without. We understand also that the layers of checks and controls instituted by the banks merely increase the chances of detection of frauds only after they occur; that the checks in themselves do not guarantee that abuses of the system by criminal delinquents would not occur. The challenge here is how our banks could put in place a mechanism that works, a system that reduces the chances of abuses to the very minimum – and when they occur – make the prospect of detection near-certainty.

    Obviously, the banking industry still has a long way to go in this regard. Indeed, it would appear that necessary infrastructure for such does not yet exist. Given that one notorious feature of the financial services environment is the absence of infrastructure for background checks on the sector’s potential employees, the result is an industry that harbours employees who ordinarily would have no business in the sector. Having been let in, they almost inevitably end up preying on the system. And in the atmosphere in which the security agencies that could have helped to ameliorate the situation are themselves bogged down by systemic failures and derelictions, the situation is left to thrive. We think the time has come for the Bankers Committee and the security agencies to work in concert – to deal with the problem once and for all.

    Of course, that nearly all the banks are involved itself says a lot. It is either the banks’ overall systems of financial controls are weak or simply inadequate. Again, who else but the Bankers Committee can fix it? The committee might wish to take a closer look at the system with a view to bringing it up to speed with the challenge.

  • Monarch denies fraud in Mobil’s N1.3b oil spill fund

    Monarch denies fraud in Mobil’s N1.3b oil spill fund

    THE  paramount ruler of Ibeno in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Owong Effiong Achianga, has dismissed the allegation of fraud levelled against him in the disbursement of ExxonMobil’s N1.3 billion oil spill palliative fund.

    The fund was meant to cushion the effect of the oil spill in the area.

    The monarch said the allegation was “completely false and baseless”.

    Achianga, who spoke yesterday in Ibeno, described the allegation as a blackmail to disparage his office.

    He said the allegation was the handiwork of mischief makers and non-indigenes of Ibeno.

    Reports in the local media accused the monarch of mismanaging the funds.

    But Achinaga said funds accruing to the area over an oil spill were always managed by a consultant to address the pressing needs of the affected communities.

    He said: “Mobil does not pay cash to people.

    According to him, the recent palliative fund was paid to E&T Consultant, with the mandate to expend the cash on social infrastructure, including education and similar projects.

    The monarch dismissed a report that restive youths in his domain were spoiling for war over the alleged mismanagement of the funds.

    Achianga said he had attracted jobs and scholarship to over 60 Ibeno youths.

    The monarch called for peaceful environment for further development to thrive in his domain.

    He urged Governor Udom Emmanuel to revisit the abandoned Eket-Ibeno road, adding that its completion was one of his pre-election promises.

     

  • PDP governors: no electoral fraud in Rivers, Akwa Ibom

    PDP governors: no electoral fraud in Rivers, Akwa Ibom

    Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have rejected claims of electoral fraud in the last governorship election in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

    In a statement in Abuja last night and signed by the coordinator of the PDP Governors Forum, Osaro Onaiwu, the governors said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had already declared the election in Rivers State as credible.

    The statement said the outcome of the Akwa Ibom governorship election should not be a surprise to anyone, adding that the last PDP governor in the state, Godswill Akpabio “performed tremendously well” and that the people of the state had no reason to change course.

    The Governors’ lamented what they described as the abuse of freedom of speech by certain observer groups that made “spurious allegations” about the elections “to please their sponsors”.

    The statement called on the security agencies to reign in these groups, as, according to the governors, they were  capable of disrupting the peace with their claims and utterances.

    The governors also decried what they described as “the boastings” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take both Akwa Ibom and Rivers states through the tribunal.