The Abuja Zonal Command of the Economic Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has debunked report alleging that the commission provided surety for one Ezekiel Joseph Oyo arrested over internet fraud.
Oyo was apprehended at the Life Camp area of Abuja metropolis on April 5, 2023.
His arrest was made possible following a discreet surveillance and actionable intelligence on his suspected involvement in internet fraud called Picking, online romance and money laundering.
In a statement signed by Dele Oyewale
Head, Media and Publicity of the anti-graft agency shared via its X (formerly known as Twitter) handle, the suspect was said to have been introduced to the fraudulent practice through one of his friends, Bruno, based in Germany.
According to EFCC, “to ply his nefarious business, he opened a wallet address with a username: 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, 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.”
The statement further revealed that 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 offered $107,000 as bribe? Every wild claim made against investigators at the Abuja Zonal Command are mere trumped-up fabrications and should be ignored. All items recovered from him, including a Mercedes Benz C43 AMG, are in the custody of the Commission.
Oyo jumped bail and efforts are being made to bring him to trial for money laundering offences.