How alleged fraudster duped Total staff of N107mn

 A man obtained money fraudulently from Total staff in Nigeria for the importation and sales of fish.

The Police Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Lagos, on Monday revealed how an alleged fraudster swindled Total Staff Multi-purpose Co-operative Society of N107 million in 2009.

Linus Gado Shegman of Twidco El-Gado Nigeria Limited allegedly obtained the money from the society purportedly for the importation and sales of fish.

The accused was introduced to the society in 2009 by Nkechi Nwoko, then secretary of the co-operative and business partner to Mr. Shegman.

According to the SFU, Mr. Shegman received the first tranche of payment from the society, N28 million, on March 4, 2009, with First Bank Draft No. 791413 in Lagos.

The second tranche was paid to the alleged fraudster, another N28 million, on March 13, 2009, with First Bank Draft No. 17221288.

The interest that accrued for the capital borrowed from Zenith Bank was N49 million, making a total of N107 million indebtedness by the fraudster, the SFU added.

“When the suspect was arrested and interrogated, he admitted committing the crime and pleaded for grace of extension of time to offset the debt,” the SFU said in a statement signed by Ngozi Isintume-Agu, its Public Relations Officer.

“The suspect was released on Police Administrative bail,” it added.

However, rather than keeping to the terms of his bail, Mr. Shegman headed to the Federal High Court, Abuja, where he sued the Inspector-General of Police; Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit; and Chief Superintendent of Police Saadat and his team.

In his ruling on February 21, Justice Adetokunbo Ademola dismissed the suit on the grounds that the action took place in Lagos thereby rendering the court incompetent to hear it.

The judge further awarded N30,000 as cost against the plaintiff.