Ex-Naval officer, lawyer arrested for N540m bank fraud

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.

Courtesy: punchng.com