Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) agents on Wednesday arrested a four-man syndicate that allegedly impersonated the commission chairman, Ola Olukoyede, to demand $1 million in hush money to close a so-called fraud investigation on Mohammed Bello-Koko, the former MD of Nigeria Port Authority (NPA).
Ojobo Joshua, Aliyu Hashim, Thomas Oduh and Paul Ogiji were arrested in Garki and Apo, Abuja, for posing as Mr Olukoyede to extort $1 million from a former top government employee whom they alleged to be a person of interest in the commission’s investigation.
According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyawale, the alleged fraudsters had approached Mr Bello-Koko, “claiming his indictment in some phoney investigative activities of the EFCC during his tenure as the MD of NPA.”
They told Mr Bello-Koko that the EFCC chair would “give him a soft landing” in exchange for $1 million.
The four suspects further threatened to arrest and prosecute the NPA chief if he failed to produce the money.
As soon as the anti-graft commission got wind of the information, agents were deployed to “play along with the alleged fraudsters” till they got arrested on Wednesday.
Mr Oyawale stated that the suspects would be “charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.”
It was unclear if the suspects had contacted their legal representatives.
The EFCC, established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, serves as the nation’s fraud police, going after government employees and politicians suspected of financial crimes.
Former governors Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Godwin Emefiele of the CBN still have active prosecution cases with the anti-corruption commission.
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