Nigerian newspapers · 2 November 2020
FG arraigns two Nigerians for ‘defrauding German state of €2.3m COVID-19 funds’
Nigerian news from AbokiFX Rate
A federal high court in Abuja has arraigned Babatunde Adesanya and Akinpelu Abass for allegedly defrauding the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia of €2.3 million COVID-19 funds.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, represented the federal government at the arraignment of the suspects on a 10-count charge, on Monday, before Anwuli Chikere, judge of the federal high court.
DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN CHECK ABOKIFX EXCHANGE RATE TODAY IN NIGERIA TODAY?
The suspects, Adesanya, a 50-year-old master’s degree holder in cell biology, and Abass, 41-year-old managing director of Musterpoint Investment Nigeria Limited, were reportedly arrested by the cybercrime unit of the Nigerian Police Force and INTERPOL in September.
They allegedly cloned the corporate website of ILBN Holdings BV, Holland, to defraud one Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn, a representative of the German state.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, Over 1M applications for N75bn fund in three weeks- Buhari
According to a statement released by police spokesman, Frank Mba, in September, investigations revealed that the suspects collaborated with one Eduardus Boomstra and Geradius Maulder, their Holland-based cohorts, “specialised in identity theft, cyber-stalking, cloning of corporate websites amongst other cyber mischiefs to defraud unsuspecting members of the public across the world”.
“In this instance, the suspects fraudulently obtained from Mr Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn the sum of 1.5m Euro and another 880,000 Euro as advanced payment for the supply of COVID-19 PPE valued at 14.7million Euros,” Mba said.
VISIT ABOKIFX FOR ABOKI FOREX EXCHANGE RATE TODAY
When the PPE failed to be delivered, the German representative visited the corporate office of ILBN Holdings BV in Holland to seek reasons for the delay in supplying the items. He was then told the company never did business with him and that the transaction was a scam.
Consequently, the case was reported to the police in Holland and this led to the arrest of Boomstra and Maulder in Holland, and the investigations extended to Nigeria.