Ex-Naval officer, lawyer arrested for N540m bank fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has arrested a retired naval
captain, Okorie Ogbonnaya, for allegedly
defrauding Oceanic Bank Plc (now
Ecobank Plc) of over N540m.
The commission also arrested
Ogbonnaya’s lawyer, Emmanuel
Mbajuwon, for conspiring with his client
to perpetrate the fraud.
EFCC Head of Operations, Iliyasu Kwarbai,
told PUNCH Metro that 51-year-old
Ogbonnaya committed the alleged fraud
under the pretext of importing bags of
rice from Thailand for Cooperative
Federation of Imo State.
He said Ogbonnaya took a loan of N196m
from the bank and also caused the bank
to lose $2.4m after the bank had issued
him a letter of credit to a foreign bank.
He said, “Sometime in 2011, Ogbonnaya,
who is the owner of Akaeze Ventures
Enterprise, approached Cooperative
Federation of Imo State saying he could
supply them with rice below the market
value.
“Ogbonnaya was able to obtain a bank
guaranty from Imo State Government to
Oceanic Bank and subsequently got a
letter of credit from the bank worth
$6.5m.
“The rice manufacturers, based on the
documents received from Oceanic Bank,
supplied Ogbonnaya with the rice and
also gave him $90,000 to be used for
logistics and other miscellaneous affairs
which would be refunded to the
manufacturers after the rice had been
sold.”
The EFCC alleged that the retired naval
officer squandered the $90,000 which
should have been used for clearing the
goods.
Kwarbai alleged that the suspect, in
desperation, urged members of the
cooperative to pay N20m in advance for
the rice and also approached the bank for
a loan of N196m to finance his business.
He said, “Ogbonnaya approached his
lawyer, Mbajuwon, to stand surety for
him and he took a loan of N196m from
the bank. The shipment was supposed to
be the collateral but Ogbonnaya was able
to clear the goods and sideline the bank.
“Mbajuwon was also able to get a court
order restraining the bank from having
access to the rice and soon after,
Ogbonnaya disappeared, making it
difficult for the bank to trace him even
after the bank was able to overturn the
dubious court order.”
The EFCC alleged that the suspects were
able to sell all the rice without giving the
bank any of the money.
It was also alleged that the suspects
opened a joint account with First Bank of
Nigeria Plc, where they deposited the
money and later transferred to a foreign
bank.
Kwarbai added, “Ogbonnaya sold only a
portion of the rice to the cooperative and
then moved others to some other
companies at the market value. Yet, after
getting all this money, he did not pay
Oceanic Bank a dime.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that when the bank
was able to locate the suspect, only bags
of rice worth N1m, were left.
The EFCC told our correspondent that
Ogbonnaya did not even pay for the rice
that had been bought, causing the foreign
bank to obtain another $2.24m from
Oceanic Bank.
Kwarbai said, “Since Oceanic bank was the
one that issued a letter of credit for
Ogbonnaya, and he did not pay for the
rice, Oceanic Bank was compelled to pay
the money thereby incurring a double
loss.”
The suspects, it was learnt, would be
charged to court on Wednesday (today)
for fraud.