..Commission Bursts GTBANK Officials, Lawyer Abetting Her
A primary school teacher, Mrs. Roseline Uche Egbuha is currently cooling off in the custody of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly laundering N550m through her Guaranty Trust Bank account.
Also three staff of GTB and a lawyer said to have connived with Mrs. Egbuha in laundering the money have been apprehended.
Prior to her recent arrest by the ICPC, Egbuha who teaches at Ozala Primary School, Abagana, Anambra State, was earlier arrested in October, 2019 by ICPC following the receipt of a petition by the anti-corruption body.
Though she had told investigators during interrogation that the money found in her account belonged to her 24-year-old son, named Chidozie Fabian Ejeaka, investigators made revelations to the contrary.
Investigation by ICPC reveals that the N539.5 million found in her GTB account were proceeds of money laundering from Malaysia.
Accomplices who abetted Egbuha’s action in laundering the money include Compliance officer of GTB, Beckley Ojo, an Operations Manager, Chisomaga Daly-Okoro, a staff of the legal department of the bank, Sarah Ugamah and an external lawyer to GTB Nsikak Udoh.
However, to allow for ICPC’s further investigation into the alleged fraud, a Post No Debit (PND) was placed on the account. Also, a case of forfeiture of the suspected proceeds of crime was instituted against her in a court of law, while she was also granted an administrative bail.
But Mrs. Egbuha was not ready to forfeit the lump sum money and let things slide, as she approached another court to challenge the restriction placed on her account, while also suing for the enforcement of her fundamental human rights.
Hlongside with the GTB staff and lawyer, she purportedly got a court order that the restriction placed on her account be lifted.
Following the order, N550 million (principal sum and interest) were hurriedly transferred from her GTB account to FBI Legal account, a company owned by Mrs. Egbuha’s lawyer, Ferdinand Isa.
Immediately, the commission got the wind of this, she was fresh re-arrest alongside the staff of GTB and the lawyer.
The Commission found out that the money was transferred on 4th June, 2020, the same day a court order was said to have been obtained.
Mrs. Egbuha’s lawyer had claimed that the order vacating the restriction on the account was based on an out-of-court settlement with GTB which empowered his client to access her money.
Meanwhile, the Commission also found out that in their attempt to clean up the traces left , N550 million was promptly split and moved into multiple bank accounts owned by Bureau de Change operators and private individuals.
N340 million, in two instalments of N200 million and N140 million respectively, was allegedly moved into the Polaris bank account of a Bureau de Change operator. N100 million was transferred into the GTB account of Edokaf Multi-global while N18 million was transferred to the private account of the lawyer, Isa. The balance of the money was moved into other accounts.
As of the time of filing this report, investigations are still ongoing on the money laundering scam as the ICPC continues with the case prosecution.
