By OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI , Abuja
The victim of a $120,000 fraud, Dr. Mma Nwokocha, has questioned the motives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Italian embassy officials to remove the corpse of an Italian fraud suspect, Mauro Zanin, who reportedly committed suicide while in detention at the EFCC, from the National Hospital mortuary, even as the result of the autopsy is yet to be determined.
She has equally sought an injunction in Abuja High Court to prevent the Commission and the Italian Embassy from removing the corpse, even as she lambasted the Nigerian Police for its reluctance to take up the case after several complaints had been made.
Dr. Nwokocha, who spoke in an interview with Saturday Vanguard in Abuja, noted that actions by the law enforcement officers and the embassy suggest an attempt to leave her in the lurch.
"I see a clear move by the EFCC and the embassy to forsake the aggrieved body in this case, whom they have a responsibility to protect. Why is the Commission desperate to remove the corpse to Italy when my money has not been paid and while the toxicology report from South Africa is yet to arrive, what is their motive?
"Also, the Maitama division of the Nigeria police had been mandated to investigate the matter, but to this day nothing has been done," she said.
According to her, the deceased had promised to pay back her money on the day he was announced to have died in a suicide while being held by the anti-graft agency.
"Zanin had told us that some people were on the way to bring him the money. Now, the post-mortem actions of the EFCC and the Italian embassy have led us to believe that he may not have committed suicide. If anything, we believe he was killed, or how do you explain the claim by the Commission that they were checking on him every other hour before the incident, and he was not ill?
"We think some people are trying to hide something from us, hence the desperation to remove his body back to Italy.
"I am disappointed in the Commission and the Nigerian police for their lack of responsibility in this matter. They have twice attempted to remove the man's corpse from the mortuary, and only yesterday (Thursday) they were back at the hospital but were stopped by officials who insist that we have to be contacted before the corpse is released," she stated.
Vanguard Nigeria
Efcc is not doing anything in Nigeria.