ICPC arrests school teacher, GTB staff, lawyer over alleged N550m money laundering

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), has arrested a primary School teacher, Mrs. Roseline Uche Egbuha for her alleged involvement in money laundering.

Also arrested were Beckley Ojo, a Compliance officer, Chisomaga Daly-Ikoro, an Operations Manager, and Sarah Ugamah, all staff of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and a lawyer, Nsisak Udoh, for their alleged connivance with the school teacher to perpetrate the fraud.

According to the ICPC, in a statement on Friday, investigation showed that the money found in the bank account of Egbuha, who teaches at Ozala Primary School, Abagana, Anambra State, are proceeds of money laundering from Malaysia.

The anti-graft agency also revealed in the statement that Egbuha had told the Commission that the money found in her account belonged to her 24-year-old son, Chidozie Fabian Ejeaka whose whereabouts could not be established.

The three GTB staff and the lawyer were arrested for conniving with her in lifting the restriction placed on her account and the subsequent transfer of N550 million (principal sum and interest) into the GTB account of FBI Legal, a company owned by the lawyer.

The statement reads: “ICPC has arrested a primary school teacher, Mrs. Roseline Uche Egbuha, three staff of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and a lawyer for allegedly laundering N550 million.

“Mrs. Egbuha, a teacher with Ozala Primary School, Abagana, Anambra State, was earlier arrested in 2019 by ICPC and granted bail, after an investigation into her financial transactions consequent upon the receipt of a petition had shown her alleged involvement in money laundering.

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“Also in ICPC custody are a Compliance officer of GTB, Beckley Ojo, an Operations Manager, Chisomaga Daly-Okoro, a staff of the legal dept. of the bank, Sarah Ugamah and a lawyer to GTB, Nsikak Udoh. They were alleged to have connived with the school teacher to perpetrate the fraud.

“ICPC, in a series of investigation, found that the school teacher had N539.5 million in her Guaranty Trust Bank account alleged to have been proceeds of money laundering from Malaysia.

“She had told investigators during interrogation that the money found in her account belonged to her 24-year-old son, Chidozie Fabian Ejeaka, whose whereabouts could not be established.

“A Post No Debit (PND) was placed on the account to allow the Commission to carry out further investigation, while a case of forfeiture of the suspected proceeds of crime was instituted against her in a court of law.

“Her arrest with the staff of GTB and the lawyer was due to their connivance in lifting the restriction placed on her account and the subsequent transfer of N550m (principal sum and interest) into the GTB account of FBI Legal, a company owned by her lawyer, Ferdinand Isa.

“ICPC found out that the money was transferred on 4th June, 2020, the same day the court order was obtained. The lawyer claimed that the order vacating the restriction on the acct. was based on an out-of-court settlement with GTB which empowered his client to access her money.
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> “The Commission also found out that the N550 million was promptly split and moved into multiple bank accounts owned by Bureau de Change operators and private individuals.

“N340 million, in two instalments of N200 million and N140 million respectively, was allegedly moved into the Polaris bank account of a Bureau de Change operator.

“N100m was transferred into the GTB account of Edokaf Multi-global while N18m was transferred to the private account of the lawyer, Isa. The balance of the money was moved into other accounts. Investigation is ongoing and appropriate actions will be taken upon conclusion.”

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