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The Federal High Court in Abuja has approved an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze 67 bank accounts across multiple banks in connection with an alleged ₦52.9 million fraud. After Martha Babatunde, the EFCC counsel, filed an ex parte motion, Justice Emeka Nwite granted the application.
Miracle Anameze filed the ex parte motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1895/V/2024. The EFCC sought a court order empowering Ola Plucked, its chairman, or any authorized officer to instruct bank managing directors to freeze specific accounts, halting all transactions pending an investigation.
The anti-graft lawyer apprised the court of the motion, dated December 16 and filed on December 17, which sought the freezing of the accounts listed in an attached schedule on three specified grounds.
The lawyer urged the court to grant the application.“There are three grounds attached,” she said. Babatunde urged the court to grant the application. Justice Nwite then asked the lawyer how long the investigation took, and she said 90 days.
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The judge, who held that the application was meritorious, granted the prayer. He adjourned the matter until March 24 for mention.The EFCC contended that freezing the bank accounts in question, which contained proceeds of crime, was necessary to prevent fund dissipation.
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The accounts are under investigation by the EFCC. Investigator Ikenna Chukwueze from the Procurement Fraud Section stated in an affidavit that the investigation began after receiving a criminal petition on October 17, 2023.
Barr signed the petition, which also included ADSEL’s account statement. Nnamdi Michael Ogobuchi on behalf of ADSEL and Mr. Dollah Kingsley Nnamdi against Taiwo Abubakar Oluwajuwon and Heasy Enterprises.
The petition alleges offenses of internet-related fraud, conspiracy, and unauthorized withdrawal involving the sum of ₦52,991,000.00 (fifty-two million, nine hundred and ninety-one thousand naira). Chukwueze announced the launch of a discreet and thorough investigation to verify the claims in the petition.
Preliminary findings revealed that the petitioner operates a corporate naira account (No. 10277491959) with VFD Microfinance Bank. On October 16, 2023, the petitioner’s account was compromised, and ₦50 million was withdrawn in rapid succession and transferred to an account at Moniepoint Microfinance Bank under the name Heasy Enterprises (Acct No. 8220378843), owned by Oluwajun.
“The statement of account of Heasy Enterprises, confirming the receipt of ₦50,000,000 (fifty million naira), is attached and marked as Exhibit EFCC 2,” he said.
Upon analyzing Exhibit EFCC2, it was discovered that Taiwo Abubakar, the account holder, distributed portions of the fraudulently obtained funds to several individuals listed on a schedule attached to the application.
Further investigation revealed that Oluwajuwon transferred ₦19,990,000 from his Heasy Enterprises account to Litano Pro Limited Resources (Acct No. 6355725703). We have also attached the account statement for Litano Pro Limited Resources and marked it as Exhibit EFCC 3. Additionally, Taiwo Abubakar transferred ₦11,000,000 (eleven million naira) to Nwezeocha E-N Enterprises (Acct No. 6342170336). We have attached the Nwezeocha E-N Enterprises statement of account, which we have marked as Exhibit EFCC 4. Further analysis showed that ₦11,440,000 (eleven million, four hundred and forty thousand naira) and ₦10,000,000 (ten million naira) were transferred to Chigozie Okpala (Acct No. 6395639693).
We have attached the statement of account and marked it as Exhibit EFCC 5. Another ₦10,000,000 (ten million naira) was transferred to Chukwudalu Jude Owulu.Chukwueze explained that a BVN search revealed multiple accounts linked to the suspects, as detailed in an attached schedule.
He emphasised that the order was essential to preserve the funds in these accounts until the conclusion of the investigation.
The 67 accounts are domiciled across various banks, including Union Bank, Stanbic Bank, GTBank, Wema Bank, OPAY, Zenith Bank, KUDA, UBA, FCMB, Moniepoint, Keystone Bank, Access Bank, Providus Bank, Globus Bank, Polaris Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, TAJ Bank, First Bank, PALMPAY, and VFD Microfinance Bank.
