The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has called on the management of the Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos to join hands with it in the fight against corruption and economic crimes. The call came on the heels of an anti-corruption sensitization programme organised by the Commission for the staff of the institute on Thursday, August 4, 2016. Speaking at the event, which featured lectures and interactive sessions on corruption prevention strategies as well as work place ethics, the Head of Enlightenment and Orientation, EFCC, Hajia Larai Musa, spoke on the history and structure of the Commission. Musa,…
Author: Kunle Edun
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) disclosed that some unscrupulous members of the public have been defrauding unsuspecting Nigerians in the on-going recruitment exercise by the Commission. The modus operandi of the scammers is to request for applications from job-seeking Nigerians and later inform the applicants to pay N49,000 (Forty Nine Thousand Naira Only) as processing fee. Thereafter, the “successful candidates” were asked to pay another N48,000 (Forty Eight Thousand Naira Only) into an account for accommodation and transportation. A poorly written appointment letter purportedly from a non-existent office of Director General, Ibrahim Lamorde and dated 03/07/2016, sent to one Ubong…
The ring leader of an international criminal network behind thousands of online frauds has been arrested in a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). The 40-year-old Nigerian national, known as ‘Mike’, is believed to be behind scams totalling more than USD 60 million involving hundreds of victims worldwide. In one case a target was conned into paying out USD 15.4 million. The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the US, with the financial victims mainly other companies…
Samuel Sunday Ovute, a businessman and owner of Obuegu & Sons Enterprises, was arraigned on Monday, 25th July by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two count charge bordering on issuance of dud cheques and obtaining by false pretence the sum of One Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Two Thousand, Four Hundred Naira (N1,662,400.00, before Justice K.I Okpe of the Enugu State High Court, Enugu. It was alleged by a petitioner, that sometime in 2015, Ovute, a businessman who deals in liquor, fraudulently and with intent to defraud, issued Fidelity bank cheques with face value of Nine Hundred and Fourteen Thousand Three Hundred and Eighty Naira (N914,380.00) and…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan Zonal Office, has arrested five suspected undergraduate scammers. Four from the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) and one from Adekunle Ajashin University, Akungba (AAUA). They were picked up at an Off-Campus Residence located at Anuoluwapo Close, Stateline Hotel Road, off FUTA South Gate, Akure, Ondo State. They suspects who are between the ages of 20 and 23 include: Adeleke Paul (21), Adebiyi Tayo Abudu (22), Akinsanmi Olusola Adeniyi (21), Ogundile Ademola James (23) and Okali Ugochukwu (21). The Commission got wind of their activities through series of gathered intelligence. Paul and…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the leave of a Kano High Court sitting Kano, to arraign the duo of Saminu Umar Ta’ambu and Ahmed Maiturare of the popular kantin kwari textile market, Kano for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence. They allegedly used the name of Kano State government to induce a Swiss National, Mathias Hee, Owner of Okutex Ag, into supplying them with fabrics worth Five Hundred and Thirty Thousand US Dollars ($530,000) Justice Dije Aboki gave the nod after hearing argument on the application for leave to prefer charge against the suspects by…
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has said it will immediately appeal the ruling of a Federal Capital Territory High Court which today granted bail to one Abiodun Agbele, a suspect who is being investigated by the Commission for a range of alleged criminal infractions bordering on fraud and money laundering. Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, in a ruling which the Commission described as “shocking” today offered bail to Agbele and ordered the EFCC to pay the suspect N5 million as compensation for unlawful detention. The judge claimed that the failure of the EFCC to charge Mr. Agbele to court, since…
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, has returned the corruption case file of a former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, to Justice A.R. Mohammed and ordered him to continue presiding over the case. Suswam is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) along with his Commissioner of Finance, Okolobia Okpanachi, on a nine-count charge bordering on conspiracy, abuse of office and diversion of state funds to the tune of N3.1 billion. It would be recalled that Justice Mohammed had on June 6, 2016 handed off the case, and informed the court…
The President of the Association of Forensic and Investigation Auditors, Victoria Enape, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to sustain its assistance in training of its members on the practical aspect of forensic auditing with a view to effectively tackle corruption in Nigeria. Enape made the call on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 when she led other members of the Association on a courtesy visit to the Acting Chairman, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, at the Commission’s Head Office, Abuja. “The Commission has all it takes to provide the needed support to meet the modern day challenge in tracking…
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, July 18 granted bail to Olugbenga Obadina, managing director, Almond Projects Limited who allegedly collected money to the tune of N2.4billion from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, under Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) purportedly for a phony contract. He was arraigned on Friday July 15, 2016 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his company, Almond Projects Limited on an eight-count charge for allegedly collecting a sum of N2,417,000,000.00 (two billion, four hundred and seventeen million naira), paid into his company’s account…
Olugbenga Obadina alongside his company, Almond Projects Limited, was arraigned on Friday July 15 by The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja on an eight-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering to the tune of N2.4billion. Obadina allegedly collected a sum of N2, 417, 000,000.00 (two billion, four hundred and seventeen million naira), paid into his company’s account in tranches, between 2013 and 2015 from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, under Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) without…
Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has identified religion as veritable means of tackling corruption and other social vices in Nigeria. Magu made this observation on Monday, July 18, 2016 while receiving members of the Interfaith Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee (IAAC) who were at the Commission’s Head Office to brief him on their activities. The EFCC boss called for collaboration between the Committee, the EFCC and the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, PACAC, to effectively use religion as a platform in preaching against the ills of corruption. “Every religion abhors corruption. Therefore, there is…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Zonal Office in Ibadan is on the trail of a suspected ATM fraudster, who goes by the name Akinade Tofunmi. The suspect is currently on the prowl, targeting possible victims in ATM Points and Point of Sales (POS) machines across the country. In her last operation, Tofunmi who operates with the identity of her victims raked in about N3million within 24 hours. One of the methods employed by the suspected fraudster is to politely approach people having difficulty using the ATM and offering to help, only to dupe them after obtaining their personal…
The Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has called on legal practitioners to join hands with the Commission in its bid to free Nigeria of corruption. He gave this charge on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at the opening of a one-day workshop organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in collaboration with the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACC) at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja. According to Magu, the EFCC cannot stamp out corruption in the country without the support of all stakeholders. “We consider everybody a stakeholder, as the EFCC does not have monopoly of knowledge…
The outgoing United States Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency James Entwistle has commended the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu for the vigour he has brought to the fight against corruption in Nigeria. He said the best part of his time in Nigeria was strengthening cooperation with law enforcement agencies especially the EFCC. “It is in our interest to see Nigerian law enforcement capacity grow… It is not enough to complaint about things. We have to help our friends… I am proud of the EFCC and privileged to be of some help”, he said.…
Pastor Emmanuel Markus Anga and Atin Victor Generous were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on July 11 before Justice Abubakar Jauro of Gombe State High Court on two count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretense. Anga and Generous are alleged to have in November 2013, deceived David Madison, into believing that they were employees of Gora Commanding Resources, a foreign exchange investment concern allegedly owned by Philemon Gora (who is still at large) and tricked their victim into expecting that his investment of five hundred thousand (N500,000.00) would yield ten percent (10%)…
The duo of James Edwin Ehiaghe and Aimienmwona Osahon were arraigned on July 4 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice O.O Tokode of the Federal High Court Benin, Edo State on four counts bordering on ATM fraud, forgery, Impersonation, conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences; possession of scam documents contrary to section 1, 2 and 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006. Ehiaghe and Osahon are alleged to belong to a syndicate of fraudsters who specialize in defrauding their victims through text messages. They were separately charged with two counts…
The trial of Barrister Azibaola Robert, a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan continued yesterday with the first witness, Ibrahim Mahe, telling Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal HIgh Court Abuja that the Special Services Office had three accounts (Naira, US Dollar and Pound Sterling) running for the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA. Mahe, a retired permanent secretary, special services in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, told the court under cross-examination that, while he was the Permanent Secretary for some months, there was an inflow into the dollar account which he (Mahe) was…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned Jide Omokore; Victor Briggs, former managing director of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited; Abiye Membere, former Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; David Mbanefo, manager Planning and Commercial of the NNPC; Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja on a 9-count bordering on money laundering and procurement fraud. Omokore is alleged to have used the Strategic Alliance Agreement signed between the NPDC and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited to swindle the NPDC…
Gabriel Daudu, the convicted former Caretaker Chairman of, Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State, yesterday lost his post conviction bail bid as a Federal High Court sitting Lokoja refused his bail application. Daudau was convicted by Justice Inyang Ekwo on April 25, 2016 after he found him guilty of 77 counts of fraud and sentenced him to 154-year imprisonment. In his ruling, the trial judge held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, and sentenced Mr. Daudu to two years on each of the 77 counts. Since the sentences are running concurrently, Mr. Daudu is expected to spend two…