A federal high court in Lagos
state has ordered the forfeiture of N280 million reportedly belonging to
Obinwanne Okeke, a Nigerian entrepreneur who is better known as Invictus Obi.
Rilwan Aikawa, the judge, gave
the order following an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday.
He held that the sums of
N240,250,904.46 and N40,304,106.19, which the EFCC said is being “warehoused”
in the bank accounts of Invictus Oil and Gas Limited and Invictus Investment
Limited, be temporarily forfeited to the federal government.
Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel, had
said the funds were “reasonably suspected” to be proceeds of cyber-crime, and
he asked the judge to order a forfeiture.
In an affidavit filed in support
of the application, Ariyo Muritala, EFCC investigator, said the funds could be
expended by Okeke and his cronies if the order is not granted.
“I know as a fact and verily
believe that our investigation has revealed the following ear-aching and
mind-boggling findings: (a) That the Obinwanne George Okeke is a strong leader
of a cybercrime syndicate specialized in business email compromise. (b) That
the said syndicate has defrauded many innocent and unsuspecting victims (g)
That the said Obiwanne George Okeke has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in the United States of America for cybercrime-related offences
(h) That if these funds are not forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria
Obiwanne George Okeke and his cronies will dissipate same,” he said.
Currently, Okeke is in a US
prison, where he may be until February 2020, over an alleged $11 million fraud.
He was arrested by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Dulles International Airport while leaving the
United States.
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