Naira Redesign: More Governors under watch, says EFCC chairman

.As Commission arraigns alleged fake FBI Commander  for $2.8m fraud

Obiora Ifoh, Abuja

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said that the number of governors being monitored by the Commission for possible money laundering arising from the redesign of the naira is rising.

Speaking to correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja on Thursday, he however declined to give the exact number of state chief executives involved.

The anti-graft agency had previously revealed that three governors were being watched on the suspicion that may attempt to launder stashed of cash in their possession that they may not be able to lodge in the bank before the deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to return old notes for redesign.

Bawa commended the apex bank’s initiative to redesign some naira denominations, describing it as a significant process in the country’s fight against financial crimes and other forms of corruption.

He maintained that the huge amount of the country’s currency outside the possession of the CBN makes tracking of financial crimes difficult, noting that the naira redesigning is an opportunity for the government to regain control over flow of cash in the country.

In another development, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday arraigned one Ijeboi Dennis and Obade Monday Christian before Justice Abubakar Baba Shani of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja.

Dennis,(aka Andrew Tran huynh) and Monday, who also claimed to be a Commander with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, as well as a Diplomat Director, were arraigned on a five count- charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining the sum of Two Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Two Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty United States Dollars ($2, 822,860.00) by false pretense.

According to the charge, the defendants conspired to defraud one Holly Ngo, a United States Citizen while posing as American doctors stranded in Afghanistan.

Counsel to the defendants, S.T Sanni attempted to abort the planned arraignment of the defendants today as he informed the court that the defendants only received the charge and proof of evidence on Wednesday, November 16, 2022

But his objection was overruled by the judge, who ruled that the prosecution had complied with Section 35 of the Constitution by producing the defendants in court, and ordered that, arraignment of the defendant should proceed.

Count two of the charge against the defendants reads, “That you, Ijeboi Dennis (aka Andrew Tran Huynh), Obade Monday Christian (aka FBI Commander/Diplomat Director), Ekhoguagbon Osazuwa Patrick (aka Patrick Paul)(still at large) and Omage Emmanuel Omole(now deceased) between January 2021 and September 2021, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, with the intent to defraud, obtained an aggregate sum of $2,8822,860.00(Two Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Two Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty United States Dollars) from Holy Ngo, a United States Citizens under the false pretense that you are American doctors stranded in Afghanistan, which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act,2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, Christopher Mshelia, prayed the court to set a date for trial and remand the defendants in the custody of a Correctional Facility. But Sanni urged the court to allow the defendants in the custody of the EFCC pending determination of their bail application.

Justice Baba Shani remanded the defendants at the Suleja Correctional Facility and adjourned the matter till January 11, 2023 for trial.