Police Arraign Professor, Kinsman For Stealing Family’s N494m

Police have arraigned a professor, Jasper Jumbo, and his kinsman, Asai Jumbo, before the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, for allegedly stealing N494million belonging to his family, the Jumbo Major House of Bonny Kingdom in Rivers State.

The Inspector-General of Police had filed a 36-count charge of advanced fee fraud, money laundering, forgery, false claim of professorship, and impersonation, among other offences.

Some of the charges in the suit number: FHC/PH/623C/2022, reads in part: “That you Prof. Jasper F. Jumbo ‘M’ and Asai Jumbo ‘ M on or about the 20th day of January, 2020 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired together to commit felony by inducing and deceiving the Honourable Justice S.C. Amadi, judge (as he then was), sitting at the State High Court Port Harcourt to make a consent judgment conferring on both of you the benefit of substituting all (former) signatories of the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny Accounts with Polaris Bank and First Bank respectively and to effect full dominion and control of the said Accounts unencumbered and which act led to your obtaining by fraudulent means the various sums of money standing to the said Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny’s Accounts and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006;

“That you Prof. Jasper F. Jumbo ‘M’ and Asai Jumbo ‘M’ on or about the 31st day of January, 2020 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired with Polaris Bank Plc and its staff (now at large) to commit felony by relying on the purported consent judgment you fraudulently obtained from the Honourable Justice S. C. Amadi, judge (as he then was), sitting at the State High Court Port Harcourt to defraud members of the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny of various sums of money in the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny’s Account Nos. 1140174616 and 1770121671 with Skye Bank Plc (Polaris Bank Limited) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006;

When the matter came up yesterday for hearing, the judge, Justice Adamu Turaki, adjourned the suit to November 25, 2022 for trial.

Reacting to the arraignment of his clients, Kelvin Nwofu, SAN, objected to the charges against the duo, wondering how the two Jumbos could have deceived a High Court Judge, Justice Simeon Amadi, who is currently the Chief Judge of Rivers State, to grant them judgement.

Nwofu said: “You cannot say the High Court judge, who is now the Chief Judge of Rivers State, was misled into giving judgement. It’s not true. That judgement gave them the authority to withdraw the money and paid those they paid.

“Second, they are saying Prof himself is not a professor because, according to them, the university that awarded him that title is not a Nigerian university, can you imagine? This is very funny. Is it only a Nigerian university that can give you professorship?”