Court Remands Chief Accountant, Others In Rivers For Alleged N215 Million Fraud

On Friday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has remanded a former chief accountant, Chinedu Akandu, and four others over alleged Two Hundred and Fifteen (N215,000,000) Million Naira fraud.

In a statement released on its official Twitter on Friday, the anti-graft agency said Akandu and his company, JCJ Global Services, were found guilty of the allegations against them by Justice P. I. Ajoku.

Four former Megastar Technical and Construction Company Limited employees, Andrew Odibenua, Calistus Madu, Abiola Allison and Okpeva Elija, were also accused of conspiracy, money laundering and obtaining by false pretence.

The statement noted that the defendants were arraigned by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the EFCC on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, on a 14-count charge bordering on conspiracy, money laundering and obtaining by false pretence.

EFCC, NIRA Sign MoU of Collaboration on Cyber Security

In another report, the anti-graft agency reported that the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Thursday, March 16, 2023, reiterated the Commission’s resolve to build its personnel’s capacity to combat the emerging trends in cyber security effectively.

Naija News learnt that Bawa stated this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the EFCC and the Nigerian Internet Registration Association, NIRA, led by its President, Muhammed Rudman, at the EFCC Head Office, Jabi, Abuja.

According to him, the MoU would further boost the understanding of his personnel on the modern trends in cyberspace and assist the Commission’s investigations.

“We are very proud to collaborate with you because we realize that part of our mandate is collaboration. We need relevant stakeholders, whether in government or private sector, to achieve our mandate,” the EFCC boss said.

While expressing delight over the collaboration, Bawa said the EFCC had a well-equipped Academy to sustain the training.

“I find this MoU very appealing. I accept your collaboration, and we are ready to start as soon as possible.

“We have a well-equipped Academy to carry out this training, and I advise that the training is not only onset but also online so that many people can join; even other agencies can benefit from this using our platform,” Bawa added.

In his remark earlier, the President of NIRA, Muhammed Rudman, said that the purpose of the MoU was to strengthen collaboration between his Association and the EFCC. He said a massive gap between NIRA and law enforcement agencies needed to be bridged.

“We have law enforcement agencies locking up Registrars when there are cyber security issues in terms of websites based on the crimes perpetrated by end users.

“So, to protect our Registrars from gaps with law enforcement, we identify EFCC as the right partner to provide capacity building to address these gaps regarding cybersecurity awareness and general knowledge of ICT,” he said.

He added that when the MoU was fully implemented, it would benefit the EFCC and other agencies.
EFCC Nigeria

“To be honest with you we want to kick start this project as soon as possible to give high-level capacity building on the internet and how it works, to address the needs of Law Enforcement Agencies, using EFCC as an umbrella body to bridge the cybersecurity gap,” Rudman said.