N9.9bn Fraud: Court Freezes Accounts Linked to Top Lagos Official

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Three bank accounts linked to a senior official in the immediate past administration Mr Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos State, have been frozen on the directive of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

The order was given yesterday by Justice Chuka Obiozor after the matter was brought before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through an ex parte application.

The agency informed the court that the sum of N9.9 billion was paid from the state government’s accounts into the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) account opened on September 17, 2018, and operated by the permanent secretary in the Office of the Chief of Staff to the former Governor, Mr Adewale Adesanya.

In an affidavit filed in support of the ex parte application, Kungmi Daniel, a member of the EFCC investigating team, said the schedule of the FCMB account showed how Mr Adesanya and the other signatories to the account made fraudulent fund transfers into the account from the accounts of the Lagos State Government.

He said the commission received intelligence on the transfers, analysed it, and found it worthy of investigation.

“The trend in the account is that the account always witnessed huge inflow from Lagos State Government in the above-scheduled accounts managed by the respondent (Mr Adesanya),” the investigator said.

He added that, “There have been concerted efforts and attempts to dissipate the contents of the accounts listed in the schedule to this application.”

“Without freezing the nominated accounts and temporarily forfeiting the money to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is no way the fraud being perpetrated using the scheduled accounts can be stopped,” the investigator added.

He therefore, appealed to the court to freeze the accounts pending the conclusion of investigation and possible prosecution of Mr Adesanya.

The judge, while ruling on the matter yesterday, ordered the temporary freezing of the accounts, domiciled in Access Bank, FCMB and Zenith Bank and adjourned case till September 9.