The Zinox Board Chairman, His Wife, and Eleven Others Who Refused to Testify How Nigeria's Attorney General Abubaka

On Tuesday, November 8, 2022, at Apo, the suspects were scheduled to appear before Justice Oba for an arraignment hearing.

 

In an effort to protect Zinox Group's Chairman Leonard Stanley Ekeh and other high-ranking officials implicated in the alleged N170.3 million contract fraud case, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami has decided to use his discretionary powers under the constitution to side with the suspects rather than the complainant. According to a news article published on October 2, 2022, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria named Femi Falana filed 17 counts against 13 individuals at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama for their alleged involvement in a N170.3 million fraud against Benjamin Joseph, the Managing Director of an Ibadan-based ICT retail firm called Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2022, at Apo, the suspects were scheduled to appear before Justice Oba for an arraignment hearing.


Falana has charged the suspects in suit No. FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 of conspiring to steal a laptop supply contract that the Federal Inland Revenue Service had allocated to Joseph's company in 2012. (FIRS). Malami, under the cover of exercising his right (nolle prosequi) to intervene and end any case at any time, revoked Falana's permission to prosecute the accused in a questionable move.

For example, on October 28, 2022, M.B. Abubakar, the director of public prosecutions, signed a letter titled, "The document titled "Withdrawal of Authorization Under Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, As Amended" was sent to Falana.

SaharaReporters has obtained a copy of the letter which states, "Please be advised that the authorization granted to you on May 10, 2022, to prosecute the case listed below as the expenses of the nominal complainant Mr. Joseph Benjamin FRN has been revoked by the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in exercise of the power conferred upon him by Section 174 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

Please withdraw charge number FCT/HC/CR/469/2022 as a result.

Malami's intervention in the case, which included revoking the fiat he granted Falana to prosecute the suspects, gave Zinox's top officials a way out of facing justice just days before their arraignment. Citadel Oracle Concept Limited's Managing Director, Joseph, went to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in October 2013 to report a fraud he believed had been committed against his company by high-ranking members of Zinox Group and its subsidiary, Technology Distributions Limited, along with their accomplices.

Joseph claimed that his company was defrauded out of N170.3 million on a contract to deliver laptops from the FIRS that had been awarded to them in 2012. He said the suspects stole his contract, carried it out unlawfully, and split the money without asking or getting his permission, all while failing to pay the proper taxes.

The owner said the suspects plotted with Access Bank PLC employees to steal his company's corporate profile.

In addition to using a forged board resolution dated December 18, 2012 with a caricature of his signature to open a fake Access Bank account in his company's name, Joseph claims the suspects forged other documents belonging to his business, including a forged check allegedly drawn on the fake account.

In addition to two employees of Access Bank PLC, he named Chris Eze Ozims, the Legal Adviser/Company Secretary of Zinox Group and Technologies Distributions Limited (TD); Folashade Oyebode, a director in TD; Charles Adigwe, the Accountant with TD; Onny Igbokwe, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of both Ad'mas Technologies Limited and Pirovic Engineering Services Limited; and Princess O. Kama.


Ifenna

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