CASE NUMBER 10882:

LARGEST BANKING SCAM IN NIGERIA

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Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Emmanuel Nwude Emmanuel Ofulue Nzeribe Okoli Obum Osakwe Christian Ikechukwu Anajemba Amaka Anajemba

Location (Town / State)

Lagos, Lagos

Date of Event

18 Nov 2005

Date of republication

18 November every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

Emmanuel Nwude, a former Director of Union Bank of Nigeria led a six man team to swindle a Brazilian bank of $242 Million in the largest scam in Nigerian history by offering to sell a bogus airport in Abuja to the bank's director.

Full story

In 1995, Emmanuel Nwude who was the Director of Union Bank of Nigeria at the material time impersonated the then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Paul Agabi Ogwuma, and persuaded one Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil's Banco Noroeste (Noroeste Bank) in São Paulo to invest in a new airport in Abuja. Nelson Sakaguchi was promised a reward of $10 Million commission when the deal pulls through. The deal was offered to Sakaguchi personally, but Banco Noroeste became involved when Sakaguchi allegedly dug illegally into his bank's funds and transferred $242 Million in a series of payments to accounts around the world. Sakaguchi paid $191 million in cash and the remainder in the form of outstanding interest.

Nwude was assisted by other members of his criminal gang while pulling off this heist. Specifically, this fraud was the third largest banking scam in the world after the Nick Leeson’s trading losses at Barings Bank, and the looting of the Iraqi Central Bank by Qusay Hussein.

The fraud went undiscovered for three years until August 1997, when the Spanish Banco Santander (Santander Bank) wanted to take over the Banco Noroeste and a joint board meeting was held in December of that year. Officials of the Spanish bank noted that half of the Brazilian bank’s capital was at Cayman Islands unmonitored. This raised questions as this was two-fifths of Noroeste's total value. Investigation began and was carried out in Brazil, Britain, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United States. While the sale of the Bank proceeded, the owners of Banco Noroeste bank paid $242 million bills before its collapse in 2001.

A member of the gang, Christian Ikechukwu Ijemba, who was the husband of another member, Amaka Anajemba, was ambushed by assassins in a car on his way to Enugu in October 1998.

In 2002, the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo saw to the establishment of an anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Emmanuel Nwude’s fraud case one of the first to be investigated by the EFCC, and in February 2004, all five surviving members of the gang were arraigned before Honourable Justice Lawal Gumi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on 86 counts of "fraudulently seeking advance fees" and 15 counts of bribery related to the case. Four Nigerian companies which were complicit in the crime, namely Fynbaz, Emrus, Ocean Marketing and the African Shelter Bureau, were also arraigned alongside the five defendants.

The defendants who pleaded not guilty were severely warned not to attempt to bribe court officials as it was suspected that money was going round.

However, following a Notice of Preliminary objection filed by the defendants challenging the jurisdiction of the Abuja High Court to try the defendants, Hon. Justice Lawal Gumi on the 19th July, 2004 held that the court did not have the jurisdiction to try the defendants for offences that had not taken place in the Nigerian capital. He further held that the appropriate place for the trial of the accused on those charges is the High Court of Lagos, and proceeded to strike out the case. The defendants were then released but immediately rearrested the moment they stepped outside the court building.

They were re-arraigned before Justice Joseph Oyewole of the High Court of Lagos State. While the trial was going on, Nwude attempted to bribe Nuhu Ribadu, the then chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, with $75,000 cash but the latter refused and Nwude was charged with attempted bribery as well as attempt to kidnap a prosecuting witness. At the trial of the five gang members, Amaka Anajemba pleaded guilty to the charges in return for lesser sentence (plea bargaining). She was convicted on the 16th July, 2005 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison and also ordered to repay $25.5 million to the bank. She was to surrender her properties in Nigeria, the United States, Great Britain, and Switzerland to meet up this sum.

After Nelson Sakaguchi, the victim of the fraud gave testimony against the accused persons, Emmanuel Nwude and Nzeribe Okoli then pleaded guilty to the charges in hopes of a more lenient sentence. On the 18th November, 2005, Hon. Justice Oyewole sentenced Emmanuel Nwude to five concurrent sentences of five years each, totaling 29 years, while Nzeribe was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Emmanuel Nwude’s entire assets worth more than $121 Million were confiscated to be returned to the victim, and a further fine of $10 million Naira was imposed upon him to be paid to the Nigerian Federal Government. However, Emmanuel Nwude was released from by the Nigerian Government in 2006. He then filed a lawsuit to recover his seized assets after he was released from prison, on the grounds that some of the assets were acquired before the offense was committed. This case is currently at the Court of Appeal.

On August 19, 2016, Emmanuel Nwude’s hometown of Ukpo in the Dunukofia area of Anambra State was attacked by over 200 people, apparently due to a land dispute with the neighboring Abagana community. Four policemen were shot, and Emmanuel Okafor, a security guard at a construction site, was killed. Tha Anambra State Police command alleged that Emmanuel Nwude was a ringleader, and arrested him on 27 charges including murder, attempted murder, and terrorism.

Nwude presently sits in one of the cells at Arkham Prison, Gotham city in Anambra State, awaiting trial for murder.

External links/URLs

https://www.smh.com.au/world/nigerians-charged-over-scam-that-sank-bank-20040207-gdib6h.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3479957.stm

https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/nigeria-jails-woman-in-bank-scam-case-248398

http://www.irinnews.

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