Ogbonnaya and Mbajuwon
The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested a retired naval
captain, Okorie Ogbonnaya, for allegedly defrauding Oceanic Bank Plc
(now Ecobank Plc) of over N540m.
The commission also arrested Ogbonnaya’s lawyer, Emmanuel Mbajuwon, for conspiring with his client to perpetrate the fraud.
EFCC Head of Operations, Iliyasu Kwarbai, told PUNCH Metro
that 51-year-old Ogbonnaya committed the alleged fraud under the
pretext of importing bags of rice from Thailand for Cooperative
Federation of Imo State.
He said Ogbonnaya took a loan of N196m
from the bank and also caused the bank to lose $2.4m after the bank had
issued him a letter of credit to a foreign bank.
He said, “Sometime in 2011, Ogbonnaya,
who is the owner of Akaeze Ventures Enterprise, approached Cooperative
Federation of Imo State saying he could supply them with rice below the
market value.
“Ogbonnaya was able to obtain a bank
guaranty from Imo State Government to Oceanic Bank and subsequently got a
letter of credit from the bank worth $6.5m.
“The rice manufacturers, based on the
documents received from Oceanic Bank, supplied Ogbonnaya with the rice
and also gave him $90,000 to be used for logistics and other
miscellaneous affairs which would be refunded to the manufacturers after
the rice had been sold.”
The EFCC alleged that the retired naval officer squandered the $90,000 which should have been used for clearing the goods.
Kwarbai alleged that the suspect, in
desperation, urged members of the cooperative to pay N20m in advance for
the rice and also approached the bank for a loan of N196m to finance
his business.
He said, “Ogbonnaya approached his
lawyer, Mbajuwon, to stand surety for him and he took a loan of N196m
from the bank. The shipment was supposed to be the collateral but
Ogbonnaya was able to clear the goods and sideline the bank.
“Mbajuwon was also able to get a court
order restraining the bank from having access to the rice and soon
after, Ogbonnaya disappeared, making it difficult for the bank to trace
him even after the bank was able to overturn the dubious court order.”
The EFCC alleged that the suspects were able to sell all the rice without giving the bank any of the money.
It was also alleged that the suspects
opened a joint account with First Bank of Nigeria Plc, where they
deposited the money and later transferred to a foreign bank.
Kwarbai added, “Ogbonnaya sold only a
portion of the rice to the cooperative and then moved others to some
other companies at the market value. Yet, after getting all this money,
he did not pay Oceanic Bank a dime.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that when the bank was able to locate the suspect, only bags of rice worth N1m, were left.
The EFCC told our correspondent that
Ogbonnaya did not even pay for the rice that had been bought, causing
the foreign bank to obtain another $2.24m from Oceanic Bank.
Kwarbai said, “Since Oceanic bank was
the one that issued a letter of credit for Ogbonnaya, and he did not pay
for the rice, Oceanic Bank was compelled to pay the money thereby
incurring a double loss.”
The suspects, it was learnt, would be charged to court on Wednesday (today) for fraud.
PUNCH
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