EFCC

Azeez Adeshina Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, also known for his staunch support for online fraudulent activities and encouraging Nigerian youths to participate in defrauding Caucasians has been arrested and charged to court.

He appeared on the 20th of May, 2019 at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos state after his arrest 10 days prior to the court date. The singer appeared without lawyers who could not reach the venue of the hearing. The singer pleaded not guilty, and will remain in prison till the 30th of May, 2019.

Read the Economic financial crime commission report of the case of Naira Marley:

                      Internet Fraud: Naira Marley Arraigned, Remanded in Prison Custody

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal office, on May 20, 2019 arraigned a Nigerian artiste, Azeez Adeshina Fashola, also known as Naira Marley, before Justice Nicholas I. Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on an 11-count charge bordering on cybercrime. .
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The defendant was arrested on May 10, 2019, following intelligence report received by the Commission about his alleged involvement in internet fraud. .
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One of the counts reads: “That you, Azeez Adeshina Fashola, aka Naira Marley, and Yad isril (still at large), on or about the 26th  day of November, 2018, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourself to use Access card no : 5264711020433662 issued to persons other  than you in a bid to obtain gain and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(1) (b) of the Cybercrime Prohibition, Prevention etc Act 2015 and punishable under Section 33(2) of the same Act.” .
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The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
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In view of his pleas, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, asked the court for a trial date. .
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He also prayed for accelerated hearing of the case and urged the court to remand the defendant in prison custody. .
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Counsel to the defendant, Taiwo Oluwa Ore- Agba, asked the court for a date to hear the bail application on behalf his client. .
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Consequently, Justice Oweibo adjourned the case to May 30, 2019 and ordered the defendant to be remanded in prison custody pending the hearing of the bail application.

The Nigerian government recent meeting with UAE is seen to have yielded a good result after officials at UAE recently blocked an attempt by an ex-governor to transfer half a billion dollars to UAE. The ex-governor hit the brick wall of strict policies anti-laundering rule that have now been put in place after the meeting with the current Nigerian government in January.

In the agreement in January, both governments signed the "Judicial Agreement on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal and Commercial Matters, which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth"

Since the agreement in January, the anti-graft agency in Nigeria have been working with the Dubai government by giving out list of suspected former government officials who are likely to stash their stolen funds in the UAE.

According to a anonymous source:

The Federal Government team has met with those from the UAE on intelligence sharing, the list of those on EFCC radar, the number of highly-placed Nigerians with fat accounts in UAE and those with choice properties in Marina (Dubai), Bur Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Some of the former governors include one from the South-South, two from Northcentral, two from the Northeast, one from the Northwest, and one from the Southwest.

More than six ex-ministers and a former presidential aide, who is on the run over the $2.1billion arms deals, were said to have acquired choice mansions and malls in UAE. One of the former ministers, who was alleged to own two houses in Dubai, was said to have served as a front for a former First Lady.

Former governor of Akwa-Ibom and senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio have been arrested on Friday by the Economic and financial crime commission. Akpabio arrived at the EFCC office at 5:20pm on Friday in the company of a senior advocate of Nigeria, Ricky Tarfa.

The EFCC had been investigating the administration of the former governor after an allegation of  N108.1billion of Akwa-Ibom funds  squandered by the governor during his administration. The scandalous spending had angered some circle in Akwa-Ibom and different Akwa-Ibom indigenes had sent petitions to the commission to investigate the former governor, and also some letters had been written to Muhammadu Buhari too.

An Abuja-based lawyer,  Leo Ekpenyong, had written a letter addressed to President Buhari on June 8, calling for the president to probe the looting, and also call on EFCC to start an investigation of the looting, and he was invited by the EFCC to adopt his petition on June 17 and clarify of all allegations he had made in his petitions.

Godswill Akpabio, a close ally of the former governor is also known for spending Akwa-Ibom funds carelessly, and it was alleged that between the January and December 2014, he had colluded with two of his top aides to cart away a sum of N108.1 billion from the state treasury.

Mr. Leo Ekpenyong had accused the former governor of conniving with former Government House Permanent Secretary, Etekamba Umoren, and the former Accountant General of the state, Udo Isobara to loot the state funds. In the petition, he wrote;

Between January –December 2014, it is on record that the trio of Godswill Akpabio, Mr. Etekamba Umoren and Mr. Udo Isobara, made illegal but substantial withdrawals of cash from a designated state government-owned account with Zenith Bank with account number: 1010375881 amounting to N22.1 billion.

 It is worthy of note that reasons for such ungodly cash withdrawals against financial regulations and due process laws range between sundry use and unjustifiable expenditures by Godswill Akpabio and his numerous surrogates and proxies.

 For example, a whopping N18 billion was withdrawn fraudulently from the state FAAC account with the United Bank for Africa in trenches of N10 million and above by Mr. Isobara in a surreptitious manner to conceal their dishonest intention.

For assisting the governor to steal the funds, Etekamba Umoren was made the chief of staff, and now also the secretary to the state government under Udom Emmanuel’s administration.Also Akpabio was alleged to have spent N50 Billion during the last general election to see to his preferred candidate winning the governorship election to cover up the tracks.

Some assets of Godwill Akpabio as stated by the legal practitioner includes;

Multi-billion naira mansion at Plot 5 Okogosi Spring Close, off Katsina-Ala Crescent, Maitama-Abuja, a multi-billion naira mansionette at Plot 28 Colorado Close, Maitama, Abuja and another multi-billion naira mansion at 22 Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Others include a multi-billion naira mansionette at Plot 23 Olusegun Aina Street, Parkview, Lagos and a multi-billion naira 25 storey building at Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja for a sum of N270m. Ohakim was arrested last month by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the N270m that was allegedly perpetrated in 2008, while he was the governor of the state.

Justice Ademola Adeniyi, while ruling on the bail application filed by Ikedi Ohakim, also ordered the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to submit the accused person passport and other travel douments to the deputy chief registrar of the court.

As reported by Punch, the court had on Wednesday ordered the ex-governor to remain in he custody of the EFCC, pending his application bail the next day, Thursday.

On the bail application hearing on Thursday, the defence counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), urged the court to grant the bail request of his client, and told the court that his client's passport and travel documents have been seized by the EFCC, and he has also remained faithful to his bail application granted to him by the anti-graft agency.

But the prosecuor, Festus Keyamo, opposed the bail for Ohakim. He said the court should not grant the bail, but instead grant an accelerated hearing for the accused.

The judge during his hearing, said that the accused person had placed sufficient materials before the court and he warrants granting him bail.

The former governor was arraigned before the court on three count charges of fraud, which includes a cash payment of $2.29m(N270m) for a property in Asokoro in Abuja. The governor who was the governor of Imo state between May 2001 and May 2007 failed to declare the property when he was arrested by the EFCC in November 2008. He had connived with Tweenex Consociates H.D. Ltd to hide the ownership of the house and portray him as a tenant of the property.

The offence committed in 2008 was in violation of section 15(1)(d) and section 14(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, respectively.