An international forensic expert
has waded into the widespread debate that the recent United States allegations
against Mr. Allen Onyema has generated. In a published article titled: ‘Allen
Onyema and Air Peace V. US Department of Justice’, Professor Emmanuel Emenyonu,
a professor of Fraud and Forensic Accounting at the Southern Connecticut State
University, USA dismissed public commentary that the case is related to the
recent indictment of Nigerians engaged in cybercrimes stating that “nothing
could be furthest from the truth as there are hardly any facts in the November
19, 209 Grand Jury indictment.”
He made it clear that the purpose
of the analysis was to ‘shed some light on the issues using the tools of his professional
training and exposure, given that this is of national importance to Nigeria and
Nigerians both home and abroad’.
In a critical analysis of the
fine details of the 35-count charge by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the
professor averred that the connotation of sinister criminal activities on the
part of Mr. Onyema which as suggested by the indictment and various headlines
is not supported by a careful reading of the indictment. According to him, “the
indicting US Federal agency will identify with the victims and the magnitude in
US Dollar terms of losses incurred by the victims” which they have clearly
failed to establish in this regard. Going further, he highlighted that “No
victims were specifically mentioned not to talk of the monetary amount of the
losses incurred by the victims”.
While noting the planned
involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he advised
against any rush into the matter stating that “the Nigerian EFCC should resist
the temptation to be used as a pliant tool for bringing down a thriving
Nigerian company that is providing jobs directly and indirectly for thousands
of people all across Nigeria and beyond.” He added that the “economic interest
of Nigeria should weight heavily on the minds of the leaders of EFCC as they
proceed on this issue.”
Raising a possible case of bias,
he noted that the US was more concerned about protecting its own by not
indicting the financial institutions involved in the case rather than pursuing
justice. He affirmed that “It appears here that the US DOJ is primarily
concerned with protecting Wells Fargo and the two other systemically important
banks named in the Indictment.”
By way of advice to the
concerned, he suggested that “the accused persons should put up a robust defence
to clear their names from what looks to be an overreach by zealous
prosecutors.”
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