Metro
Businessmen dupe Kuwaiti of $4.8m using fake FIRS documents
An Investigating Officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Daniel Danladi, on Friday narrated how two businessmen allegedly used forged Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) documents to defraud a Kuwaiti businessman of $4.8 million.
Daniel testified during the trial of a pilot, Victor Uadiale, and a businessman Everest Nnaji, who are standing trial before an Ikeja Special Offences Court.
The accused are facing a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences.
Led in evidence by Lead EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, Danladi said investigations revealed that apart from forging FIRS documents, the defendants also forged documents of Citibank to perpetrate the alleged fraud.
Oyedepo tendered some documents, which were exhibits already in the court’s custody and asked Danladi to reveal the outcome of his investigations from the exhibits.
The exhibit was a Citibank statement of account, FIRS documents, electronic evidence of a phone call conversation between the defendants, the complainant, Mr Tawfeeq Al-Omar, and others now at large.
Danladi testified that findings of the anti-graft agency revealed that the defendants used an account with Barclays Bank to perpetrate the alleged fraud.
He explained, “When we approached the representative of Barclays Bank in Nigeria, he said that he would not give third party details of an account domiciled in the bank.
“He said it was one of the suspects who could authorise access to the account. Since we had agreement with the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI), we then wrote letters to the Nigeria Intelligence Financial Unit (NIFU) and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
“The NIFU, in its reply to the EFCC, confirmed existence of the transaction which, it said, actually occurred a long time ago.”
Oyedepo said the EFCC investigated some MTN phone lines discovered in a bundle of documents given to the anti-graft agency by the counsel to the complainant, allegedly used by the defendants and their accomplices to perpetrate the fraud.
“We wrote to the MTN to provide us with the call log of the numbers. Finding from the call log revealed that the phone call was from the same location one of the defendants was residing,” the witness added.
However, Justice Mojisola Dada adjourned the case until to September 21 for the continuation of the prosecution’s case.
Meanwhile, the EFCC claimed Uadiale, who goes by the alias Victor Emeka, conspired with Nnaji and one Ismaila Lawal (at large) to obtain money by false pretences in 1997 and 1998 in Lagos.
READ ALSO: EFCC arrests three men for alleged N3.5bn fraud in Ponzi scheme
“Uadiale and Lawal, between Feb. 24 and March 19 1997, with intent to defraud, obtained an aggregate sum of $93,250 from Al-Omar, a Kuwaiti national.
“The funds were received under false pretences that it represented payment for 50,000 metric tonnes of Urea (phosphate fertilizer) which they claimed was procured from National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON).
“On Aug. 11, 1997 in Lagos, Uadiale and Lawal fraudulently obtained $282,500 from Al-Omar under the false pretences that the money was payment for 75,000 metric tonnes of diesel procured from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
“Between Nov. 25, 1997 and May 18, 2006 Uadiale and Nnaji in Lagos, obtained an aggregate sum of $3.5 million from Al -Omar under the pretence that the fund was payment for bonny light crude diesel.
“Also, between Jan. 17, 2007 and Feb. 8, 2011, Uadiale solely obtained $945,000 from Al-Omar by falsely claiming that the money was payment for bonny light crude diesel,” the EFCC alleged.
According to the anti-graft commission, the offences contravene the provisions of Section 1(3) and 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 1995.
By Victor Uzoho
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