N2.9bn Fraud Allegation: EFCC Files 17-Count Charge Against Okorocha
BY EDMOND ODOK – On a day that former Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha officially made public his intention to contest the presidency in the 2023 general elections, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acted as the spoilsport by preferring a 17-count money laundering charge against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In what political pundits are already peddling as a move clearly meant to take the shine off his presidential declaration, the anti-graft agency alleged that Senator Okorocha, who piloted the affairs of Imo State from 2011 to 2019, conspired and diverted public funds to the tune of about N2.9 billion during his eight years tenure.
Also listed as defendants in the case are an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Anyim Nyerere Chinenye, and five companies- Naphtali International Limited, Perfect Finish Multi Projects Limited, Consolid Projects Consulting Limited, Pramif International Limited, and Legend World Concepts Limited.
The Commission stated that the defendants committed the alleged offence between October 2014 and February 2016, even as it further alleged that the defendants sequentially siphoned funds from the Imo State Government House account and Imo State Joint Local Government Project account, and diverted same into accounts of private firms.
It was indeed a tale of the good and bad day in the office for the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial district at the ninth National Assembly (NASS) as he addressed a world press conference at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja to formally declare his interest in running for the nation’s highest office come 2023 general elections.
However, the court is yet to assign the case to any judge in order to have the defendants arraigned for trial.
