Attorney General, Abubakar Malami,\u00a0 may be in hot water with Economic and
\nFinancial Crimes Commission, EFCC,\u00a0 over the Dr. George Uboh\u2019s\u00a0 N300
\nbillion slush fund recovery\u00a0 drama.<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com gathered that Malami is currently being investigated on
\nthe orders of President Muhammadu Buhari, over his alleged role in the
\ntransfer of slush funds from the NNPC to various banks by Diezani
\nAlison-Madueke.<\/p>\n
Trouble started for Malami when he a hired Uboh, a convicted felon, in the
\nUS and Nigeria, and his firm, Panic Alert Security System (PASS), without
\ndue diligence, gave him\u00a0 a huge mandate to trace hidden N300 Billion
\nslush funds in 13 banks. The idea was Uboh\u2019s interestingly.<\/p>\n
He told Malami he could help the government trace the funds.<\/p>\n
Unknown to the AG, Uboh personally extended his mandate to all banks,
\nparastatals, agencies and individuals, using the official mandate as cover
\nto seek sensitive documents account details.<\/p>\n
According to Malami, the bubble bust when some rattled individuals and
\nbank chiefs contacted the AG on the activities of Uboh, and how he was
\nnosing around the source of slush funds.<\/p>\n
Buhari is curious and wants Malami to explain why the AG revoked the
\nearlier mandate he gave to Uboh to trace stolen , slush funds in banks.<\/p>\n
But Pointblanknews.com gathered that Malami allegedly tried to protect
\nsome bank chiefs when he realized Uboh had gone very far in the search for
\nstolen funds.<\/p>\n
It was gathered that some of the bank chiefs, including that of Access
\nBank, had asked Malami to stop Uboh from prying into the source of slush
\nfunds in their safe deposit boxes.<\/p>\n
Uboh told the Presidents that Malami specifically intervened in the case
\nof Access bank. He alleged Malami tried to reach him severally through his
\nPA, but he refused to talk with the AG. And that the AG tried with several
\nbanks and when he could not stop him, he revoked his mandate.<\/p>\n
Malami denied \u201c. I did not make, never made and will never make any
\nalliance with anyone in and outside of the banking industry to frustrate
\nPASS or any firm from recovering any FGN funds stashed\/trapped in the
\nlisted banks or any bank or company in Nigeria or elsewhere\u201d<\/p>\n
Curiously, few weeks after Malami stopped Uboh, the top chiefs of three
\nbanks in malami\u2019s list were arrested. The\u00a0 \u00a0Group Managing Director, of
\nAccess Bank, Herbert Wigwe,was busted over\u00a0 funds laundered through the
\nbank by officials of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
\nAgency (NIMASA).<\/p>\n
Some questionable funds located in the bank was also traced to former
\nPetroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Wigwe allegedly received $5
\nmillion that was routed through Zenith Bank.<\/p>\n
The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo, was later
\narrested by the EFCC over an alleged $115m received from the immediate
\npast Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.<\/p>\n
Few days later the EFCC traced more than $88 million to a hidden account
\ncontrolled by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
\nSterling Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Adeola . The money was transferred to Mr.
\nAdeola from Fidelity Bank of Nigeria whose managing director, Nnamdi
\nOkonkwo, was also detained by the EFCC. All men are on bail.<\/p>\n
Malami argued that he revoked Uboh\u2019s mandate\u00a0 \u00a0because aside going beyond
\nthe scope he listed, he was\u00a0 \u00a0soliciting and\/or requesting bank officials
\nto allow him access to certain encrypted systems in order to enable him
\nextract relevant information to execute the brief without appreciation of
\nthe security implications of such a delicate venture on Nigeria\u2019s
\nfinancial sector and without any prior discussions with and approval from
\nhim.<\/p>\n
A source told Pointblanknews.com \u201c It was a grand conspiracy from the
\noffice of the Attorney general to the office of the Governor of the
\nCentral bank. Yes, Uboh has some shady pasts but if you as AG said
\ninvestigate 13 banks and he includes more banks agencies and individuals,
\nwhy kick him out. You said the banks were complaining Uboh was asking for
\nsensitive documents, but Uboh said the banks wanted to cover up the
\ncrimes, who do you believe\u201d<\/p>\n
The source said further \u201cAnother issue is as the chief law officer of the
\nstate, why give a private individual such assignment without a thorough
\nbackground check. You then turn around to say, the banks were complaining
\ndocuments he is asking may compromise security because Uboh has a dark
\npast with credit card fraud, financial crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Malami had\u00a0 stated\u00a0 in his response to Buhari\u2019s query\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI was inundated
\nwith the excesses of Uboh of PASS and later found out that PASS actually
\nwrote several banks (more than 13 banks), private individuals, corporate
\nentities (national and multinationals), government agencies and virtually
\nall FGN ministries soliciting for data, information, official records,
\nremittances (funds and stocks), and records of whereabouts of all
\nforfeited assets not yet disposed off by some of the FGN agencies, amongst
\nother things.<\/p>\n
Malami denied he tried to intervene on behalf of the rogue bank chiefs \u201cTo
\nallege that he sent a warning to me through my personal assistant that I
\nshould not call him on Access Bank and that I revoked his engagement
\nbecause I could not talk to him is outright falsehood and the fact remains
\nthat I have never ever made an attempt to call him in life at any time
\nprior to the engagement or thereafter and the idea of passing a warning on
\naccount of my purported call does not arise.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Further \u201cI was inundated with the excesses of Uboh of PASS and
\nlater found out that PASS actually wrote several banks (more than 13
\nbanks), private individuals, corporate entities (national and
\nmultinationals), government agencies and virtually all FGN ministries
\nsoliciting for data, information, official records, remittances (funds and
\nstocks), and records of whereabouts of all forfeited assets not yet
\ndisposed off by some of the FGN agencies, amongst other things\u201d.<\/p>\n
A US court once convicted Mr. Uboh, an older brother of a former member of
\nthe House of Representatives, Doris Uboh, for engaging in credit card
\nfraud. US authorities had also indicted him for dealing in narcotics, but
\nthe narcotics charges were later dropped.<\/p>\n
In 1992, U.S. law enforcement agents carried out a major raid on a credit
\ncard and bank fraud ring led by George Uboh in Georgia. US prosecutors
\nidentified Mr. Uboh as the ringleader of the syndicate. Doris Uboh\u2019s names
\nappeared as number 7 on the indictment list, and she was charged on four
\ncounts of felony charges. She fled the US to Nigeria, later manipulating
\nher way into the House of Reps.<\/p>\n
The case against the Ubohs and their co-conspirers was assigned docket
\nnumber 92-cr-00041-GET-JRS and was listed as USA v. Uboh et al. The Uboh
\nsiblings and 27 others were charged with varying degrees of felonious
\nfraud.<\/p>\n
The case wound through US courts from 1992 to 1998. Though the U.S.
\ngovernment issued a motion to dismiss the charges with regard to Doris and
\nothers in 1998, the case was re-opened in 1999. However, by that time Ms.
\nUboh had fled the U.S. Her flight led U.S. prosecutors to declare her a
\n\u201cfugitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Uboh, the serial fraudster who sensationally accused the Economic
\nand Financial Crimes Commission of diverting proceeds of recovered assets
\nwas today convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment by Justice
\nS. E. Aladetoyinbo of the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja, for
\nhis role in converting the property of the defunct Police Equipment
\nFoundation for his own use.<\/p>\n
Uboh was arraigned by the EFCC on a three-count charge bordered on
\nCriminal Breach of Trust involving the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attorney General, Abubakar Malami,\u00a0 may be in hot water with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,\u00a0 over the Dr. George Uboh\u2019s\u00a0 N300 billion slush fund recovery\u00a0 drama. Pointblanknews.com gathered that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n