A team of special investigators probing massive fraud at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has requested the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to issue Interpol Red Notices for three Nigerian individuals implicated in the scam. The suspects, including Mr. Odoh Eric Ocheme, a CBN staff now at large, along with two accomplices, Adamu Abubakar and Imam Abubakar, are accused of conspiring and forging documents in the name of former President Muhammadu Buhari to embezzle approximately US$6,230,000 from the CBN’s coffers.
The request, detailed in a letter signed by DCP Eloho Okpoziakpo, Head of Operations at the Office of the Special Investigator, highlights the seriousness of the alleged fraud. The suspects are said to have used forged documents to steal funds from the CBN, prompting the investigation and subsequent charges against them.
The letter to the IGP stated, “In the course of the Special Investigator’s assignment, Mr. Odoh Eric Ocheme, (a staff of the CBN) now at large and the other two accomplices, also now at large, were discovered to have conspired and forged documents in the name of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria with which they stole about US$6,230,000 (Six Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars, in cash, from the coffers of the CBN.”
The suspects face six count charges at the Federal High Court, Abuja, with one count reading, “by false pretence that one man who held out himself as Jibril Abubakar is a Staff from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and had approval of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to source money from the Central Bank of Nigeria for foreign Election Observers, and with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of six million, two hundred and thirty thousand United States Dollars ($ 6,230,000.00) from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja Branch.”
The case underscores the need for vigilance and stringent measures to combat financial fraud in Nigeria. As investigations continue, the authorities are focused on apprehending the suspects and ensuring justice is served.
PM News