Mr. Daniel Danladi, an investigator for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ), recounted on Friday how two businessmen allegedly used false Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS ) documents to defraud a 4-year-old Kuwaiti businessman. , $ 8 million.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that Daniel testified during the trial of
a pilot, Victor Uadiale, and a businessman Everest Nnaji, who are on trial in the Ikeja Special Offenses Court.
They face a charge of three counts bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretenses.
Led in evidence by EFCC lead attorney Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, Danladi said investigations revealed that in addition to falsifying FIRS documents, the defendants also forged Citibank documents to perpetrate the alleged fraud.
Oyedepo showed Danladi certain documents which were already exhibits in the custody of the court and asked Danladi to reveal the result of his investigations from the exhibits.
The exhibits are: an account statement from Citibank, documents from FIRS, electronic evidence of a telephone conversation between the defendants, the complainant, Mr. Tawfeeq Al-Omar, and others currently at large.
Danladi said the anti-graft agency findings also revealed that the defendants used an account with Barclays Bank to perpetrate the alleged fraud.
“When we approached the representative of Barclays Bank in Nigeria, he said he would not give details of a third party on an account domiciled in the bank.
“He said it was one of the suspects who could authorize access to the account.
“Since we had an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI), we then wrote letters to the Nigeria Intelligence Financial Unit (NIFU) and the Federation Attorney General’s office.
“The NIFU, in its response to the EFCC, confirmed the existence of the transaction which it claims actually happened a long time ago,” Danladi said.
The witness said the EFCC investigated
a few MTN telephone lines discovered in a bundle of documents handed over to the anti-corruption agency by the plaintiff’s lawyer, which were allegedly used by the defendants and their accomplices to perpetrate the fraud.
“We wrote to MTN to provide us with the call log of the numbers. Discovery of the call log revealed that the phone call came from the same location where one of the accused resided, ”the witness said.
Judge Mojisola Dada adjourned the case until September 21 for the prosecution’s case to continue.
NAN reports that according to the EFCC, Uadiale, who is called Victor Emeka and Amaka Emeka, committed the offense of conspiring to obtain money under false pretext alongside Nnaji and an Ismaila Lawal (on the run) between 1997 and 1998 in Lagos.
“Uadiale and Lawal, between February 24 and March 19, 1997, with the intention of defrauding, obtained a total sum of $ 93,250 from Al-Omar, a Kuwaiti national.
“The funds were received under false pretenses that they represented the payment of 50,000 metric tonnes of urea (phosphate fertilizers) which they claimed came from the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON).
“On August 11, 1997, in Lagos, Uadiale and Lawal fraudulently obtained $ 282,500 from Al-Omar under the false pretext that the money was payment for 75,000 metric tons of diesel purchased from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
“Between November 25, 1997 and May 18, 2006, Uadiale and Nnaji in Lagos, obtained a total sum of 3.5 million dollars from Al-Omar under the pretext that the fund was the payment of a good light crude diesel .
“In addition, between January 17, 2007 and February 8, 2011, Uadiale only obtained $ 945,000 from Al-Omar by falsely claiming that the money was the payment for a good light crude diesel,” said EFCC.
According to the Anti-Corruption Commission, the offenses contravene the provisions of Article 1 (3) and 8 (a) of the Fraud on Charges and Other Fraud-Related Offenses Act 1995. (NAN)
