The special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to investigate the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), related entities and other key government business entities has placed a senior official of the apex bank, Odoh Eric Ocheme, on the watch list of International Police Organisation (INTERPOL).
In a letter to the Nigeria Police, dated February 12 and signed by the head of operations of the special investigator, DCP Eloho Okpoziakpo, two others, Adamu Abubakar and Imam Abubakar, were also placed on the watch list.
The letter entitled “Request To Watchlist And Placing On Interpol Red Notice 3 Defendants Involved In A Case Of Conspiracy And Fraud” reads in part: “In the course of the special investigator’s assignment, Mr. Odoh Eric Ocheme, (a staffer of the CBN) now at large, and the other two accomplices, also now at large, were discovered to have conspired and forged documents in the name of the president, Federal Republic of Nigeria, with which they stole about US$6,230,000 (six million, two hundred and thirty thousand dollars) in cash, from the coffers of the CBN.
“Consequent upon the above, a charge was filed and warrants of arrest have been issued by the Federal High Court of Nigeria …for the arrest and production of the Defendants named above for their arraignment. The data page of Odoh Eric Ocheme’s Nigerian International Passport No. B50082800. Duly certified true copies of the warrants and the Order of the Court to that effect are hereby attached.”
The special investigator asked INTERPOL to assist in apprehending and repatriating the duo from any of the INTERPOL member states to which they may have flown.
Forged Documents Used To Pay Election Observers $6.2m – Boss Mustapha
Meanwhile, a former secretary of the government of the federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, has said $6.2m was released from the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2023 using a forged document.
Mustapha, who appeared as the fourth prosecution witness in the ongoing fraud trial of the immediate-past CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, said the document did not come from former President Buhari or his office.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had alleged that on February 8, 2023, Emefiele connived with one Odoh Ocheme, who is now at large, to obtain $6.2m from the CBN, claiming that it was requested by the SGF “vide a letter dated 26th January, 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/.
Also, the EFCC alleged that Emefiele, in January 2023, forged a document entitled: “Re: Presidential Directive On Foreign Election Observer Missions,” dated 26 January, 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201.
In his evidence, Mustache denied receiving any amount from the said money.
Mustapha said, “All through my service year as the SGF, I never came across these documents it was claimed that Buhari signed. From the face value of this document, having served for five years and seven months as SGF, this document did not emanate from the president for the following reasons.
“A correspondence that has the seal of the Nigerian president does not carry a reference number. The seal is the authority.
“Second, FEC decisions are not transmitted by letters. They are transmitted through extracts after conclusions are adopted.
“Third, I am the custodian of FEC, the president will not refer executives’ conclusions to me.
“Also, in all the five years and seven months, I have never heard of the terms special appropriation provision referred to. The terms known to me, my lord, are appropriation as provided by the appropriation act normally passed by the National Assembly.”
He added that the government also brings supplementary appropriation hen the need arises.
“In all the correspondences I have received from Buhari, it has never had ‘please accept the assurance of my highest regard’. I am his subordinate, my correspondences do not carry that.
“And lastly, looking at the signature, it is a failed attempt at reproducing Buhari’s signature. I will leave that to the experts”, he said.
