Nigeria’s federal government has charged Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman of Zinox Group, his wife, Chioma and 11 other suspects to court over alleged N170.3 million contract fraud.
On September 9, 2022, Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, filed a 17-count charge against the suspects in suit No. FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the charge, it was filed on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, following the approval he granted to Falana’s request for fiat/powers to prosecute the suspects.
No date has been fixed yet for the commencement of the trial.
Apart from Ekeh and his wife, other suspects Falana listed in the charge sheet for the prosecution included Chris Eze Ozims, the Legal Adviser/Company Secretary, Zinox Group and Technologies Distributions Limited (TD); Folashade Oyebode, a director in TD and Charles Adigwe, the Accountant with TD.
Others included the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of both Ad’mas Technologies Limited and Pirovic Engineering Services Limited, Onny Igbokwe, and his accomplice, Princess O. Kama.
Also, listed in the charge sheet are Technologies Distributions Limited (TD), Ad’mas Technologies Limited and Pirovic Engineering Services Limited, three companies indicted by police investigations into the matter.
In 2013, the Managing Director of Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, an Ibadan-based ICT retail firm, Benjamen Joseph, petitioned the Police to complain about the fraud uncovered against his company allegedly perpetrated by the suspects.
Joseph said the fraud involved a N170.3 million contract for the supply of computer systems awarded by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to his company in 2012, which was hijacked by suspects and executed using his company’s name without his knowledge and consent.
The businessman said the suspects also conspired to forge his signature on a fake Board of Directors resolution used to facilitate the opening of a fictitious account No. 0059202675 with Access Bank PLC for the payment of the proceeds of the fraud.
Although investigations by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police Force were concluded since 2014 and a prima-facie case established against the suspects, Joseph said the police refused to prosecute the suspects.
Initial investigations by the SFU of the Federal Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) indicted eight persons. But Falana listed 11 suspects in the charge sheet accompanying the application seen by our reporter on Thursday in Abuja.
However, in a letter to the AGF confirming the filing of the charge, Falana said findings by his law chambers revealed that at least 13 persons were found to have played various roles in the alleged fraud in 2012.
Reacting to police lawyer’s insistence on continuing with the prosecution of the case despite a subsisting directive by the Minister for police to withdraw, Falana said he was ready to proceed with the prosecution of the suspects.
“Based on the AGF’s fiat granted our law firm to prosecute the suspects, we have filed the charges. The AGF is entitled to withdraw the fiat and take over the prosecution of the case from us. However, since he has not done so, and we are not aware he is contemplating any such action, we are proceeding with the prosecution of the case, whenever the date to do so is given by the court,” Falana said on Thursday.