The Managing Director of the National Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), Mr. Matthew Pwajok will be arrested for alleged disobedience of court order.
This was the order of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
Justice Babs Kuewunmi gave the order following an application by counsel to the third and eighth defendants, Mr. Olalekan Ojo (SAN), at the resumption of a N6.95 billion fraud charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) against a former NAMA managing director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, and 11 others.
Mr Ojo is representing NAMA’s former General Manager of Finance, Segun Agbolade (who is the third defendant) and Randville Investment Ltd ( the eight defendant).
But Pwajok arrest order came after he shunned a July 2 subpoena issued on him and commanding him to appear in court and to produce some documents requested by both defendants.
Mr Ojo told the Justice Kuewunmi that despite being served with the subpoena and a further hearing notice that his presence was necessary in court today, the NAMA MD had disobeyed the court order and refused to show up.
In a short ruling, Justice Kuewunmi directed the Commissioner of Police, Lagos and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to ensure Pwajok is brought to court.
The judge adjourned further proceedings till January 10 and 11, 2023.
The Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) is prosecuting Abdulsalam and 11 others for an alleged fraud.
Some of the others are a former Chief Executive officer/Managing Director of NAMA, Nnamdi Udoh (who is said to still be at large), a former general Manager, Procurement, Adegorite Olumuyiwa, former general manager, Finance, Agbolade Segun, Joy Ayodele Adegorite, Randville Investment Limited, Multeng Travels and Tours Limited as well as some other companies.
The defendants were alleged to have conspired and stolen the sum of N6, 922,676,815.00 from NAMA.
One of the charges reads “That you, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Nnamdi Udoh (still at large) Adegorite Olumuyiwa, Agbolade Segun, Clara Aliche, Joy Ayodele Adegorite, Randville Investment Limited and Multeng Travels and Tours Limited, on or about August 19, 2013, in Lagos, with intent to defraud conspired to induce the NAMA to deliver N2,847,523,975.00 to Delosa Limited, Air Sea Delivery Limited and Sea Schedules Systems Limited under the pretence that the said sum represented the cost of clearing consignments belonging to the said Agency.
“You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
The defendants, however, pleaded innocent as reported by Channels Tv.
[11/2, 06:55] Ali Adoyi Abah: Naira vs Dollars: EFCC storms Bureaux De Change offices, arrests many
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday raided the offices of black market currency dealers in Abuja where it arrested many suspects.
PUNCH reports that the armed officials stormed the Sheraton Hotel area of Abuja to arrest some Bureaux De Change operators.
According to eyewitness accounts, the arrested suspects were dragged into some waiting vehicles, while many stormed the scene to have a look.
The Naira currently exchanges for N880 per dollar.
This follows the Central Bank of Nigeria’s announcement that the proposed newly-redesigned naira notes would be in circulation from December 15, 2022.
The Spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren could not confirm the operation when contacted by the platform.
“I will check and get back to you,” he said.
Meanwhile, the commission expresses concern about the rising spate of cyber-attacks on banks and the reluctance of the institutions to report such breaches to law enforcement.
It warned that such reticence would only embolden the criminals, the EFCC appealed to financial institutions to work with it in order to secure the financial sector from threats of cyber-attacks.
The EFCC had earlier warned Bureau de Change operators to be wary of currency hoarders who would attempt to seize the opportunity to offload the currencies they had illegally stashed away because of the redesigning of the Naira.
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