By Bassey Udo
The long-awaited trial of the suspects in the alleged N170.3m Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) contract fraud finally commenced on Thursday despite the absence of most of the defendants in court.
At the commencement of sitting at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court 16 Bwari presided by Justice AO Ebong, most of the suspects, including the Chairman of Zinox Group, Stan Leo Ekeh, and his wife, Chioma, who were to be arraigned, failed to show up. Mrs Ekeh, the Managing Director of the affiliate of Zinox Group, Technology Distributions Limited (now TD Africa), is the 2nd defendant after her husband.
The duo are among 13 high-profile suspects listed in a charge contained in an application filed on November 28, 2024 at the High Court of the FCT, Abuja by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
In his application, which was accompanied by a 15-count charge, Falana accused the 13 suspects of variously aiding and abetting the criminal misappropriation of the sum of N162.3 million in account No. 0059202675 domiciled in Access Bank PLC, being proceeds of a FIRS headquarters, Abuja contract awarded to Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd for the supply of laptops, which was fraudulently diverted and payment received in the name of Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd without its consent. The amount did not include about N8m deducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as value added tax (VAT) in respect of the full value of the controversial contract.
Citadel Oracle Concepts Ltd is an Ibadan-based ICT retail firm owned by one Mr. Benjamin Joseph.
Other suspects listed in Charge, No. FCT/HC/CR/985/24, who were expected to be arraigned in court on Thursday in connection with alleged fraud included the Legal Adviser/Company Secretary, Zinox Group and TD Africa, Chris Eze Ozims, and the Chairman of the Board of TD Africa, Prof. Anya O. Anya.
Mr Falana, who is representing Mr Benjamin Joseph, the nominal complainant in the case, is prosecuting the suspects on behalf of the Federal Government via a fiat granted to his law firm by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi.
During Thursday’s proceedings
In his opening address on Thursday, Mr Falana told the court that out of the 13 defendants, including individuals and corporate entities, listed for arraignment for the crime, his chambers was able to reach and serve court processes to only three, namely Ad’mas Digital Technologies Ltd., Technology Distributions Ltd. (now TD Africa), and Zinox Technologies Ltd, which are 11th, 12th and 13th defendants.
The lawyer, who appeared in the company of a senior lawyer, Bob James, from the law firm of Bob James & Co. along with two other lawyers from Falana & Falana Chambers, namely Sam Ogala and OJ Mathaias, expressed frustration that they were not able to effect service of the same court processes on the 1st – 10th defendants listed on the charge sheet.
They include the Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, and his wife, Chioma; the Legal Adviser/Company Secretary, Zinox Group and TD Africa, Chris Eze Ozims; a former Non-Executive director in TD Africa, Oyebode Folashade; an Accountant in TD Africa, Charles Charles Adigwe; Obilo Onuoha and Agartha Ukoha, both staff of Access Bank PLC accused of facilitating the opening of the fake account used in committing the fraud without due diligence.
Other defendants Falana said were unreachable include the Chairman of the Board of TD Africa, Prof. Anya O. Anya, who is also the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); a former Non-Executive director in TD Africa, Folashade Oyebode; an Accountant with TD Africa, Charles Adigwe, and Obilo Onuoha and Agartha Ukoha, both staff of Access Bank PLC.as well as Femi Dosunmu and Nnenna Kalu.
“My Lord, Case No. 6 on the Cause List is for arraignment of the suspects. But I like to report that we have been able to serve the court processes to only the 11th to 13th defendants. We are
having difficulties serving the processes on 1-10 defendants. We have already filed an exparte application on 8th of January (yesterday) for use substituted service on the remaining defendants”, Falana told the court.
Besides, the lawyer told the court that his law firm recently came across several publications in the media he considers as “preliminary objections” by the 12 and 13 defendants, which tend to raise questions on the right of AGF to approve the Fiat awarded to him to prosecute the suspects on behalf of the Federal Government.
Although Falana indicated his interest to react to those preliminary objections before proceeding with his assignment, counsel to TD Africa, Mathew Burkaa, drew his attention to a formal application on the said objections by the defence team before the court.
Consequently, parties to the matter settled for Monday, March 3, 2025 as the date for the preliminary objections by the defendants to be heard prior to the exparte motion filed by the prosecution. Subsequently, the presiding Judge, Justice AO Ebong adjourned the case to March 3 at 10 am for continuation of hearing.
Back story
On May 10, 2022, former AGF Malami approved a November 2018 request by Falana, counsel to the nominal complainant, for a Fiat authorising his law firm to prosecute the suspects after the police refused to do so despite the conclusion of investigations since 2014, which found the suspects culpable of the crime.
However, the Fiat was ordered withdrawn in questionable circumstances on the eve of the arraignment of the suspects without explanation. Rather Falana was requested to withdraw the 17-count charges he filed in case No. FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 ”in the interest of justice.” Justice CO Oba later struck out the case.
Suspects kick
Following the decision to restore the Fiat authorising Falana to prosecute the masterminds of the fraud, the suspects have continued to question the authority of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, to have rescinded the controversial decision of his predecessor in office, Abubakar Malami, to withdraw the prosecutorial powers he previously approved in favour of Falana.
In several sponsored publications in the media, the Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, took a swipe at Mr Falana, accusing him of failure to conduct due diligence on the status of the case before advising the AGF to restore the Fiat granted his law firm to handle the prosecution of the suspects, which was later withdrawn.
In a full page advertorial titled: “Femi Falana’s False Allegations Against Zinox” published in Thisday newspapers of January 6,2025, Ekeh accused Falana of deliberately instituting the fresh 15-count charge against him and the other 12 suspects to embarrass and harm their reputation.
Although he expressed the confidence that their lawyers were ready to defend the suspects against the pending charges in court, he demanded a public apology from Falana if he is unable to provide evidence linking all the suspects to the crime.
