The Nigerian government official named in an $800,000 fraud case involving wind turbine energy giant Nordex and Mountain Crane, Dr Kelechi Ofoegbu, has denied any wrongdoing and has asked both Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police and INTERPOL to investigate the matter.
In a written statement, Dr. Ofoegbu, who is the Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning of NUPRC, said hackers used their email access to Mountain Crane and sent an invoice totalling $1.75 million to Nordex, which then unwittingly paid the hackers over $800,000.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which was notified of the transaction traced $50,000 of the money to an account operated by Dr Ofoegbu with a United States’ bank JP Morgan.
In the petition dated November 3, 2023 and sent to the Inspector General of Police, Dr Ofoegbu denied any involvement in the fraudulent transaction.
He explained how a legitimate transaction with registered Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in Abuja ended up with a transfer of funds to his account from illegitimate sources.
The petition which had NPF-INTERPOL in copy gave a comprehensive explanation of how a legitimate transfer he made through Yahaya Shuaibu Mohammed and Musa Babangida Jubril operating a Bureau de Change business opposite Abuja Continental Hotel, in Abuja, to fund his account in the USA, eventually got entangled with the activities of fraudsters.
In the petition, Dr. Ofoegbu explained that in funding his foreign accounts he sometimes uses licensed BDCs and that he needed funds in his accounts in the United Kingdom and USA to pay his children’s school fees in those countries, which was why he approached the BDC in Nigeria to pay the dollar equivalent of the local currency he provided to his account in JP Morgan Chase.
Dr Ofoegbu said that alhough his account domiciled in JP Morgan Chase bank was credited via two separate transactions on April 27, 2023, he was unable to access the money as the bank had placed a hold on the account in the sum of $50,000.
Dr Ofoegbu insisted that he had nothing to do with the fraudulent transaction that followed after the Abuja transaction and “I have no knowledge whatsoever of the identity of the depositors in the United States of America, nor have I ever had any commercial dealings with anyone or entity in the USA.”
Dr Ofoegbu added that he was only notified on July 27, 2023, through a letter dated July 20, 2023 from the FBI captioned “Notice of seizure of property and initiation of administrative forfeiture of proceedings,” that the sum of $50,000 traced to his account has been seized.
It also informed him of the intention of the FBI to commence administrative forfeiture of the funds as an Affidavit deposed to by an FBI agent had already recommended the forfeiture.
Dr. Ofoegbu said that it became evident at that point that he had been defrauded by Mr Yahaya Shuaibu Muhammad and Mr Musa Babangida Jubril, whereupon he is now seeking the intervention of the INTERPOL to investigate the matter thoroughly in Nigeria and liaise with the FBI to clear him of any wrongdoing as well as facilitate the return of his funds by the two BDC agents.