PBA ReporterThe Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied allegations that its operatives provided sureties for Ezekiel Joseph Oyo who was arrested over the online romance and money laundering scam called ‘Picking2’ and allegedly collected $107,000 as a bribe from the suspect.
This was as Oyo has since jumped bail with the Commission assuring that efforts are being made to bring him to trial for money laundering offences and that all items recovered from the suspect, including a Mercedes Benz C43 AMG, are in the custody of the EFCC.
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This clarification was made in a statement sent to Prime Business Africa on Friday by EFCC’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, which disclosed that the Abuja Zonal Command of the Commission arrested Oyo on the 5th of April, 2023 at the Life Camp area of Abuja metropolis, following discreet surveillance and actionable intelligence on his suspected involvement in internet fraud.
Noting that Oyo was introduced to the internet fraud through one of his friends, Bruno, based in Germany, the statement reads, “To ply his nefarious business, he opened a wallet address with a user name: Hubert.elwood@outlook.com. Through this wallet address, he received into his blockchain, 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 and 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.
“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 who benefitted $50,000 from his transactions offer $107,000 as a bribe? Every wild claim made against investigators at the Abuja Zonal Command are mere trumped-up fabrications and should be ignored,” the EFCC statement read.
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