Barely three weeks after a fake operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission attempted to dupe the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Timipre Sylva of N100m, another fake officer, Mr. Egbe Akparakwu, has been arrested by the commission.
Akparakwu, who has been parading himself as an agent of some security outfits in the country, was paraded before the journalists in Abuja on Monday with classified documents from government agencies.
Speaking at the event, the Head, Media and Publicity of the commission, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said the documents in possession of the suspect included those of the Presidency, the Nigerian Police Force, Civil Defence Corps, the office of the National Security Adviser to the President and the State Security Service.
Babafemi said that the investigations that led to the suspect’s apprehension showed that he had been parading himself as an agent of the Chairman and the Director of Operations of the commission authorised to receive petitions from the public.
Akparakwu, who has been under the surveillance of the EFCC since October last year, according to the spokesman, was alleged to have criminal records as he was in April last year, detained at the Panti Police Station in Lagos for an undisclosed offence.
He said that it was during his interrogation that the commission knew that he was extorting money from the unsuspecting members of the public.
According to him, the suspect who was arrested on December 22, 2008, will be arraigned very soon
Denying any link with Akparakwu, Babafemi said, “Chief Egbe Akparakwu has no contact whatsoever with the Chairman of the commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, nor the Director of Operations, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, and so does not work for them or the commission as he had claimed.
“The Akparakwu Foundation of which he claimed to be the Chairman/ President is also found to be a camouflage for extortion.”
However, Akparakwu denied the allegation, saying he was not given the benefit of a fair hearing.
He said, “Even if EFCC decides to assassinate me after this hearing, they can go ahead and do so. But I know if the investigation on me would be properly carried out, the truth of all those documents would be unveiled to them.”
He said that he could defend all documents found in his possession, adding that some of them where legitimately procured from the agencies involved.
For instance, according to him, the civil defence document found on him was given to him by the Commander-General of the agency, Dr. Olu Abolurin, to transact some undisclosed business deals.
But Abolurin has denied any link with Akparakwu.
He said he did not know him and as such, could not have given him any document.
He said that it was the usual practice of scammers to want to link important personalities with their nefarious activities to divert the attention of the public.
Meanwhile, the Vaswani Brothers Sunil, Haresh and Mahesh - have expressed their appreciation to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for promptly unsealing THE HONDA PLACE premises belonging to them on January 2, 2009.
In a statement by the management of the THP and made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday, the Vaswani brothers said that the government’s unsealing of their business premises had reinforced their confidence in the due process policy of the Federal Government.
The management of THE HONDA PLACE reiterated that it had no difficulties with EFCC and was willing, at all times, to support the government’s war against corruption and other financial crimes.
The statement reads, “We are not looking for excuses or shortcuts. What we asked for was that since the petitioners have taken the issue in dispute to the court of law; let the due process of the law be allowed to take its course.
“ We are glad that both the government’s stand and EFCC’s decision have vindicated our position.”
THP recalled that its problems with Globe Motors, the competitor that dragged them before the EFCC had been on for over thirteen years. After several years of litigation, the Supreme Court heard the matter on appeal and resolved that GLOBE is bound by the terms of settlement entered as Judgement of the Lagos High Court which rendered Globe`s sub-dealership agreement non operative and that there was no subsisting contract or agreement between the two parties. The court therefore found no basis for the claim by Globe Motors that they were cheated of the billions of Naira they were claiming. According to the THP, “despite the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court over the matter, GLOBE reintroduced the matter before the Abuja High Court seeking to revisit the issues settled by the Supreme Court by alleging fraud and claiming again, billions of Naira as damages. “The Abuja High Court promptly saw through the mischief and dismissed the case as an abuse of court process and lacking in merit”. “A few years ago, Globe Motors brought up the matter once again at the High Court of Lagos State alleging the same fraud and also claiming N40bn damages. The case is still being heard. “In the light of this, we did not see why Globe Motors should drag the EFCC into this matter, other than an attempt to use the back door to obtain an advantage that the courts did not confer on them. “This attempt was similar to the build up of the campaign of calumny which led to the unfortunate illegal deportation of the VASWANI brothers in 2003 but which was overturned over four years later by the Government after several years of investigation revealed no shred of evidence to justify the allegations of economic Sabotage. “The Vaswani Brothers are extremely grateful to the Government and EFCC for the reprieve, describing it as a triumph of the rule of law over arbitrariness.”
source:the punch
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