The Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has directed the Enugu Zonal Office of the
commission to find and locate an uncompleted four-bedroom bungalow recovered
from a fraudster in Enugu, SaharaReporters has learned.
SaharaReporters reported on Thursday that Ohha
Microfinance Bank Limited had issued an ultimatum to the EFCC, demanding that
the anti-graft agency produce an uncompleted four-bedroom bungalow recovered
from a fraudster within three months.
The bank claims that a court ordered the sale of the
property and payment to the bank in 2019, but the EFCC has yet to comply.
In a pre-action notice dated January 28, 2025, which
SaharaReporters obtained on Wednesday morning, the bank warned that it would
sue the EFCC and seek N100 million in compensation if the property is not
produced within the stipulated timeframe.
SaharaReporters gathered on Friday morning that the
EFCC Chairman, following the pre-action notice on Thursday, gave a directive to
Enugu Zonal Head to locate the said property and hand over the proceeds to the
bank without delay.
A source within the commission informed
SaharaReporters that the chairman expressed strong disappointment in his
warning, lamenting the officials’ actions.
“We received a directive from the chairman to search
and locate the property immediately,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the bank’s counsel confirmed to
SaharaReporters that he received a call from the Enugu office of the EFCC,
indicating that their pre-action notice had been officially recorded for
immediate action.
“They called me from EFCC now, that the Chairman
minuted the pre-action notice to them that they should locate the property
immediately,” the counsel said.
Meanwhile, the pre-action notice, signed by Olu
Omotayo Esq, on behalf of the bank reminded the EFCC chairman of the bank’s
petition dated February 9, 2024, which requested the zonal office to
investigate the matter.
The EFCC had previously convicted a former bank
manager, Oliver Anidiobi, for diverting N219 million from Ohha Microfinance
Bank. Anidiobi was found guilty of using the funds to build a block of flats,
acquire plots of land, and construct an uncompleted four-bedroom bungalow.
“… matter was investigated by the Enugu Zonal office
of the Commission and the suspect Oliver Anidiobi charged to the court by the
Commission on 7th May 2019, in Charge Number: E/162C/19, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
NIGERIA VS. ANIDIOBI OLIVER CHUWUKA,” the bank explained.
“At the conclusion of the trial, accused person was
sentenced to eight years, imprisonment and three properties which he acquired
with the proceeds of the crimes ordered to be attached and sold and the
proceeds be paid to Ohha Microfinance Bank Ltd.
“It should be noted that when EFCC operatives led I
and our clients’ officials to identify the three properties, it was surprising
that EFCC operatives stated that they could not identify one of the properties
again, which is an uncompleted four-bedroom bungalow at Centenary City, Enugu.
“Based on our insistence that how could a landed
property recovered from a convict develop wings and disappear into thin air,
the Commission thereafter approached the Court which gave an Order that the
Controller of Corrections, Enugu State should allow the officials of the EFCC
to interview the Convict Anidiobi Oliver Chukwuka, and identify the
four-bedroom bungalow at the Centenary City Enugu, being one of the properties
traced and attached from the convict pursuant to the Judgment of the Honorable
Court delivered on the 2nd November 2019.
“The bank is fed up that over five years after the
conviction of the fraudster, the Commission could not show the property which
was an exhibit tendered and reported to the court to have been seized from the
convict.”
The bank expressed regret over not yet receiving a
response from the Commission, highlighting that the actions of the Commission’s
officials were not only fraudulent but also a perversion of justice.
It noted that these actions were intended to deprive
the bank of the court-ordered judgment it had obtained, further emboldening the
convict, Oliver Anidiobi, who, as manager of Sterling Bank, defrauded the bank
of N219 million.
EFCC has recently recorded cases of theft in some of
its offices.
On January 22, that the EFCC
had launched a manhunt for an officer in charge of exhibit room of the Kaduna
Zonal office, who reportedly stole over $30,000 and other valuable exhibits.
The agency recently detained 10 officials over alleged
theft of operational items.
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