Foreigner recounts bitter
encounter with 419 kingpin
By OLUWATOYOSI OGUNSEYE
Thursday, October 12, 2006
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•Ribadu |
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A man, who was duped of several millions of dollars, has
slammed the Economic for Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)
over the handling of the matter.
Shaarlene Lightbourne, a citizen of the Commonwealth of The
Bahamas, claimed to have received less than six per cent of
the total sum of money that was alleged to have been fraudulently
collected from him by one Igwe Madu, who presented himself
as Mustapha.
According to him, out of the $1.5 million he gave to the suspect,
he had received $88,000 from the EFCC after two years of investigation.
He said: “While I am happy to have received some money
from EFCC, the amount received is less than six per cent of
N1.5 million paid to Mustapha. I would have expected to receive
a better return after some two years of investigations by
the EFCC. I am greatly encouraged by the excellent news that
the EFCC has recovered some $800,000 and if it is so, I am
very concerned that only small amount of money has been sent
to date.
“I am hoping that there would be some major recovery
within the next few days which would be an indication that
the EFCC is serious about recovering and returning the money
that was fraudulently taken,” he said.
Lightbourne further explained how he got himself into a deep
mess, adding that the whole incident started when he visited
South Africa.
His words: “I visited Johannesburg, South Africa, sometime
in February 2002, on a business trip. During my stay, I met
a man who introduced himself as Mustapha, a Nigerian, who
had come to visit the Nigerian ambassador to South Africa
and some of his muslim brothers from Iraq.
He claimed that Ambassador Shehu Malami was his cousin. Coincidentally,
my mission in South Africa was to examine the possibility
of investing in Nigeria in collaboration with a South Africa-based
company because I had been informed by my associates in the
USA that it was easier and fraud-free to invest in Nigeria
if you operate from an office in South Africa. Therefore,
I saw my meeting with Mustapha as timely and we discussed
likely areas of business that I would be interested in. He
told me of his past relationship with the late Nigerian Head
of State,General Sani Abacha and his nephew, who was Chief
Security Officer and of the troubles he was having with the
present government.
“He talked of Ambassador Shehu Malami’s intervention
and other matters. He concluded that his nephew’s problem
was with the government particularly Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
the incumbent president. He also claimed to be the Emir of
Gwandu, a first class traditional ruler in Nigeria. He produced
a photograph in support of his claim.
“He boasted of his wide influence in some African countries
including Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Togo, etc and the widespread
influence of his holding company, Goddyson West African Ltd.
We parted ways but agreed to keep in touch. Mustapha called
me from Nigeria and informed me that he had already made a
successful arrangement with some top government officials
to award a big contract to my company from Nigeria National
Petroleum Company (NNPC).
“In the summer of 2002, Mustapha suggested a meeting
between me, himself and some Nigerian government officials.
I agreed to meet with them in Nigeria and requested an official
invitation to enable me to obtain a visitor’s visa to
travel to Nigeria. He disagreed citing bureaucratic bottleneck
but suggested Ghana instead. I agreed since at this point
I had already committed substantial amounts of money into
this venture. During my meeting with him and his group in
Ghana, we had a supposedly fruitful discussions on how best
to actualize the contract which, he said, was valued at $30
million.
“Mustapha informed me that he was successful in negotiating
a contract on behalf of my company with the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “He sent me some documents
purported to have originated from the said corporation. In
my honest effort to get mobilized for the supposed contract,
money was remitted by me to him through various accounts as
requested and nominated by him. I have copies of evidence
of remission.
“Funds were transferred to Mustapha’s bank accounts
in Ghana, Nigeria, London, Taiwan and Wales. It became evident
that Mustapha had associates in all these countries, including
Ireland. Subsequently, he began to make more and more demands
for money to enable him to facilitate the award of the contract.
When his demand for money in respect of the supposed contract
became endless, I was disenchanted and developed cold feet
around September 2003.
“Surprisingly, sometimes during the late 2003 and early
2004, I was contacted by someone who claimed to be Chief Joseph
Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who informed
me that he had been given a mandate from Mustapha to contact
me. The supposed Central Bank of Nigeria Governor said he
was in sole position to transfer part of the contract sum
to my nominated account but the vicious circle of demand for
money continued unabated until the supposed governor sent
me some documents showing that my company did a job for Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation Company.
“I was surprised and showed it to a friend who confirmed
to me that I was a victim of the famous Nigerian 419 scammers.
This was after I had again transferred substantial funds to
meet various charges, fees and commissions as demanded by
Mustapha who had now resurfaced as Chief Joseph Sanusi, the
governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.”
When Daily Sun contacted EFCC, a source said: “We have
arrested Madu again and we are making more progress towards
recovering the money.” |
