Photo file of Nigeria EFCC.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has refuted allegations of accepting a $107,000 bribe in exchange for compromising the case against Ezekiel Joseph Oyo, who stands accused of being involved in fraudulent activities..
In line with the statement, Joseph Oyo has evaded bail, and steps are being taken to pursue his prosecution for money laundering offenses.
In a statement released on Friday, the Head of EFCC Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, emphasized the contradiction in asserting that the Commission received $107,000 from Joseph Oyo, who is accused of illicitly obtaining $50,000.
“The Abuja Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arrested Ezekiel Joseph Oyo on April 5, 2023, at the Life Camp area of Abuja metropolis, sequel to discreet surveillance and actionable intelligence on his suspected involvement in internet fraud called Picking, online romance and money laundering.
“He was introduced to the fraudulent practice through one of his friends, Bruno, based in Germany. To ply his nefarious business, he opened a wallet address with a user name: Hubert.elwood@outlook.com. “Through this wallet address, he received into his block chain, a total fraudulent transaction of $3,982,260.91 (Three Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty United States Dollars, Ninety-One Cent).
“He got the money from Remitano, a Visual Digital Company based in Seychelles on March 3, 2023. He benefitted $50,000 (Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) from the fraudulent bitcoin business.
“Upon his arrest, investigators at the Abuja Zonal Command of the Commission undertook his detailed profiling and granted him administrative bail with two sureties provided by him. It took his sureties three weeks to meet up with some modest bail conditions offered them and Oyo was released after the conditions were met.
“Investigators recovered a total sum of $27,000 (Twenty-Seven Thousand United States Dollars) from him and the recovery was duly reported and documented. It is a blatant lie that investigators provided sureties for him. Would Sureties provided by investigators spend three weeks to perfect Oyo’s bail conditions, if indeed they were provided by them? The purported $107,000 (One Hundred and Seven Thousand United States Dollars) ascribed to EFCC investigators is untrue and unfounded.
“How could a suspect that benefitted $ 50,000 from his transactions offer $107,000 as a bribe? Every wild claim made against investigators at the Abuja Zonal Command are mere trumped-up fabrication and should be ignored. All items recovered from him, including a Mercedes Benz C43 AMG, are in the custody of the Commission.”