The Abuja zonal directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Philip Ifejimalu Eze and his company, Orimiri Oil and
The Abuja zonal directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Philip Ifejimalu Eze and his company, Orimiri Oil and Gas, for their involvement in a ₦63 million fraud related to the supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
Before Justice A.H. Musa of the FCT High Court in Apo, Abuja, the defendants were arraigned on a one count charge of advance fee fraud on Monday, July 21.
According to the EFCC, Eze, while serving as Managing Director (MD) of Orimiri Oil and Gas in 2024, induced Amech Nduka of Amatex oil and gas to deliver 45,000 liters of AGO worth ₦63 million by issuing a cheque from Mainstreet bank Plc, fully aware that the bank had been liquidated. The cheque was rejected when presented at Zenith Bank Plc.
The charge stated, “That you, Philip Ifejimalu Eze while being the MD of Orimiri oil and gas sometime in 2024 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, induced one Chief Amech Nduka of Amatex oil and gas to deliver 45,000 liters of AGO valued at N63,000,000 which payment was made via a bank cheque of Mainstreet Bank Plc which you knew had already been liquidated as same was rejected at Zenith Bank Plc when presented for payment which pretense you knew to be false and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(a) of the advanced fee fraud and other related offences act, 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same act”
The defendant entered a plea of not guilty, after which the prosecuting counsel, Mariya Ujudud Shariff, requested the court to set a date for the commencement of trial, while the defence team applied for bail on lenient terms.
In his ruling on the bail application, Musa granted the defendant bail on the condition that he must provide two sureties, one of whom must be a civil servant of not less than grade level 12.
He said, “The surety must bring a letter of introduction from his place of work to be verified by the court registrar while the other must have a house within the jurisdiction of the court and depose to an affidavit and sign a N2,000,000 million bail bond.”
The judge then adjourned the case until Tuesday, November 11, for trial.
