The Federal Inland Revenue Service had awarded the contract in 2012 to an Ibadan-based IT firm, Citadel Oracle Concept Limited. However, the contract was allegedly hijacked by some top officials of Zinox Technologies Limited and its subsidiary, Technology Distributions Limited (TD), and illegally executed with allies using the name of the awardee and its managing director, Joseph Benjamin. Mr. Benjamin had petitioned the then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, accusing top officials of Zinox Group, including the Chairman, Leonard Stanley Ekeh, and wife, Chioma, of conspiracy with the suspects to commit the fraud. But, throughout Mr. Arase’s tenure none of the suspects was prosecuted, despite police investigations since 2014 establishing their culpability. Mr. Benjamin had identified other suspects in the fraud to include the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Zinox Group and TD, Chris Ozims, and a director of TD, Folashade Oyebode; the chief executive of Ad’mas Digital Technologies Limited and Pirovics Engineering Services Limited, Onny Igbokwe, along with one Princess O. Kama, and some officials of Access Bank PLC. They were accused of conspiring to forge Mr. Benjamin’s signature on a fake Board resolution used to open an account No. 0059202675 with Access Bank PLC used in receiving the proceeds of the fraud. On May 8, 2015, Mr. Benjamin had petitioned the former IGP to highlight his company’s frustration in getting the police to transfer the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for prosecution of the suspects. But, curiously, on June 16, three days before the end of IGP Arase’s tenure, the police charged Mr. Benjamin to court, accusing him of providing false information in his petition against the suspects. The former IGP said Mr. Benjamin’s allegation in his July 3, 2014 petition about the Board Resolution allegedly by Citadel Oracle company used in opening the suspected fake account in Access bank through which the FIRS paid for the contract, was false. On July 2, Mr. Benjamin was arraigned before the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja on a one-count charge of “false petitioning” to IGP Arase with intention of misleading him over a case of identity theft, impersonation and criminal conversion of contracts against the accused. During the petitioner’s formal arraignment before Justice Peter Kekemeke of Court 14, Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, the police prosecution counsel, Simon Lough, in his charge No. CR/216/16 listed all the suspects as witnesses. At the commencement of Mr. Benjamin’s trial on October 5 and 6, 2016, one of the key suspects, Miss Kama, appeared in court as the principal witness. At the resumed hearing in the case on Wednesday, a senior counsel in the office of the Attorney General’s office, Aniekan Ekong, put up a surprise appearance in court to announce his boss’s directive to take over the case. “My Lord, my name is Aniekan Ekong, a senior counsel in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. I am appearing for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have the approval and directive of the Attorney General of the Federation to take over the prosecution of this case forthwith,” he announced to the chagrin of the court. The judge, Peter Kekemeke, who was surprised at the sudden appearance of the AGF’s representative, put up a protest, and queried the motive behind the decision. “This is not acceptable. What is the basis of the Attorney General taking over the case? This court is not a dumping ground for cases. This court will not allow itself to be used,” Justice Kekemeke said. But, Mr. Ekong, who described the case as a peculiar one, insisted, saying pursuant to the AGF’s approval and directive, he would be applying to the court to immediately forward the original case file to the AG for review. The request to take over the case, he said, was pursuant to the provisions of Section 174 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which empowers the AGF to take over, continue or discontinue any criminal proceedings instituted by any other authority or person. Since the completion of investigations by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police Force 2014 and a prima-facie case established against the suspects, prosecution had stalled, because the director for Public Prosecution made several unsuccessful requests to the then IGP for the release of the case file for the prosecution of the suspects. With the takeover of the prosecution now, counsel to Mr. Benjamin, S.K. Olutekunbi, explained that the AG would be able to review the original case file to ascertain whether there was any attempt to miscarry justice. “The police has a right to prosecute under the law. But, the superior power of prosecution belongs to the Attorney General’s office. At any point the police is prosecuting, the AG can step in and take over a case, either to continue or discontinue,” he said. Consequently, the case was adjourned to February 16, 2017 for continuation of hearing. Source: PremiumTimesng]]>