From Titus Maduako Eleweke
Anambra State businessman, Mr Eches Henry has appealed to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Abuja, to intervene in an alleged attempt to undermine the judicial process.
The move, he claimed, was part of a deliberate effort to free those he described as members of an international criminal syndicate, that specialized in defrauding unsuspecting businessmen, using Nigerian banks as a platform for their activities.
In a petition filed by his counsel, Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor of I.C. Ejiofor & Co., Mr Henry urged the Chairman of the PSC to use his office to stop what he called a covert operation by some he alleged to be criminal elements within the police force, aimed at illegally withdrawing a pending criminal charge before the Federal High Court, Awka.
The case, identified as Suit No. C/56/2024 is said to have involved a syndicate charged with multiple counts of fraud.
According to the charge sheet referenced by our reporter, the accused persons conspired to commit felony by obtaining money under false pretenses.
The charges read: Between December 2021 and January 2022, at the Electrical Parts Market in Obosi, Idemili North LGA, Anambra State, the accused fraudulently obtained $57,000 from Mr Eches Chinedu Henry.
Between December 14 and 20, 2021, they again defrauded Mr Eches Chinedu Henry, obtaining an additional $57,000.
In January 2022, they fraudulently obtained $65,000 from one Ejike Justice Chukwudi.
In January 2022, they also defrauded one Naji Okechukwu Matthew of $30,000 at the same location.
Mr Eches Chinedu Henry has disclosed that one of the suspects alleged to be their ringleader, was a former EcoBank staff who exploited his position to defraud him of millions of Naira.
He said he was led to believe that the bank would facilitate his international transactions by providing him with the necessary foreign exchange to make payments for goods and services imported from China.
Mr Henry, however, alleged that the three suspects conspired to embezzle his hard-earned resources.
He disclosed that it took the swift intervention of a crack team of police officers from the Anambra State Police Command Headquarters to uncover and apprehend the syndicate members.
Mr Henry further claimed that as the case progressed in the Federal High Court, Awka, that the suspects began to boast of their powerful connections in Abuja, and threatened to use their influence to sabotage the case, saying that they had succeeded in having a strange signal issued by the police high command in Abuja, aimed at terminating the charges against them and withdrawing the case pending before the Federal High Court, Awka, a court of competent jurisdiction.
The petition, which awaits action from the PSC Chairman, was filed on behalf of Mr Henry by I.C. Ejiofor & Co., his legal counsel.